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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: English literature; Literary Collections / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / Medieval; ... Read more

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This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Published by: Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington in 1823 in 441 pages; Subjects: Literary Collections / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / Medieval; ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

"the sovereignty of words"
While dearly priced, this book is a wonderful addition to the library of every serious student of the English language.

Professors Kolb and DeMaria are fully up to the daunting task of editing the works of such a master of English as was Johnson.

I do quarrel with the editors' decision to use the original French, without translation, in several footnotes, as I --- and I suspect as many others in our country who are keenly interested in Johnson -- do not read that language. As SJ himself said, "...few ideas would be lost to mankind, for want of English words, in which they might be expressed." ... Read more

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1946 ... Read more

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This edition presents not only familiar pieces like Rasselas, "The Vanity of Human Wishes," the Prefaces to Shakespeare and the Dictionary, many Rambler and Idler essays, and biographical and critical works, but also a substantial sampling of lesserknown prose, poetry, letters, and journals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Johnson is extraordinary, but please don't underrate Boswell
This is undeniably the best anthology of Johnson currently available.Itoutshines Penguin's much too abbreviated version and contains all the majoritems: a fine selection of the essays, several biographical pieces,including the essential Soame Jenyns and Life of Savage, the prefaces tothe Dictionary and to Shakespeare, a selection of prayers, some wonderfulletters, etc.

For the journey to Scotland (only excertpted here), I muchprefer Penguin's complete edition of the Journey, which includes Boswell'sJournal.Reading the two interlaced is an utter delight--moving from theformality, grace and power of Johnson to the smaller, more intimatepleasures of Boswell gives one the feeling of having captured, in theadventurous peregrinations of these two inimitable characters, the verybreadth and depth of eighteenth century English writing.

I must say, withall respect to Frank Lynch whose standing as the leading Johnsonian of theweb is beyond dispute, that to love and admire Johnson, but not appreciatethe brilliant, even if much different, stylistic inventions of Boswellseems to me somewhat perverse.Certainly Boswell had his shortcomings, buthalf the joy of reading and 'knowing' Johnson and his circle comes fromappreciating the little peccadilloes and foibles that each displayed in histurn--not the least the Great Cham, Johnson, himself.I cannot think ofeither of these two men that I don't see Thomas Rowlandson's wonderfulcaricature of the two walking arm in arm--the older man a head taller,wagging his finger and pontificating casually and brilliantly on someweighty matter, and the other rolling along beside him smiling with sweetadmiration and pride of association.To read Johnson and bypass Boswell,is to find one great treasure and forsake another.

Recommended by Frank Lynch of "Johnson Sound Bite" fame
I asked Frank Lynch, who runs the "Samuel Johnson Sound Bite" site, to suggest a good starting point for someone who's never read Samuel Johnson.(I've never been able to get intoBoswell's Life of Johnson, which Frank Lynch doesn't like either).Frankis of course a great Johnson enthusiast and regularly contributesJohnsonian wit and wisdom to alt.quotations.I've ordered this book on thestrength of his recommendation.(Warning: this 884-page paperback appearsto be a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BOOK with the from the 200-page hardboundpublished by Twayne, even though Amazon has them crosslinked as being thesame).

Frank posted the following in alt.quotations:

"Withouthesitation, I recommend the anthology published by Oxford & edited byDonald Greene.It has NO Boswell.It has about 40 periodical essays, allof Rasselas, the preface to Shakespeare, the preface to the Dictionary, asermon, some of his Journey to the Hebrides, extracts from the Lives of thePoets, some letters, The Vanity Of Human Wishes, London, his review ofSoame Jenyn's "A Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin ofEvil", The Patriot, the Drury Lane Prologue etc etcHands down thebest anthology going, and a great survey of the scope of his work." ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Disappointing
Received my copy of this "Modern Selection" and admit that it was at best, disappointing as a representation of some of Dr. Johnson's work.Not really worth a place in my library.

A literary delight
The greatness of Johnson's Dictionary is in good part in its literary quality. Johnson is a writer of great verve, humor, satiric sharpness, moral insight and wit. The Dictionary is of course not to be chewed and digested, but rather to be tasted for its special treats. An abridgement like this provides the reader with a more portable source of pleasure, a volume which can be schlepped along , and read on bus or train. I would strongly recommend that along with this work the reader get a hold of Hitchings work on the story of themaking of the Dictionary. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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"Samuel Johnson's Dictionary", published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language in desperate need of standards. No English dictionary before it had devoted so much space to everyday words, been so thorough in its definitions, or illustrated usage by quoting from Shakespeare and other great writers. "Johnson's" was the dictionary used by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontes and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde. This new edition, edited by David Crystal, will contain a selection from the original, offering memorable passages on subjects ranging from books and critics to dreams and ethics. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Literary Criticism / Shakespeare; Literary Criticism / Reference; ... Read more

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A book about the life of an author and about how an author is made, not born, Lipking's Samuel Johnson is the story of the man as he lived -- and lives -- in his work.Tracing Johnson's rocky climb from anonymity to fame, in the course of which he came to stand for both the greatness of English literature and the good sense of the common reader, the book shows how this life transformed the very nature of authorship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Terrific book
This is a terrific book.It is a finely wrought analysis of Johnson's life and contribution as an author -- admiring but by no means uncritical.The focus on authorship provides a useful thread throughout the book and enables Lipking to relate his discussion of Johnson to other trends and controversies in scholarship.

For a reader like me, this book represents an ideal "step up" after having made my way through standard biographical treatments of Johnson.Highly recommended.

Lipking focuses on Johnson's writing rather than the life.
Lipking has written a "writer's life," examining Johnson not from the viewpoint of celebrity, but as a history of his writing, and "career development" as an author.Lipking's thesis is that thetransformations Johnson underwent in his career went a long way in shapingwhat we think of authors, and in that interest spends the bulk of his timeexamining Johnson's written words.While one may initially think thisapproach is redundant with Kernan's ("Samuel Johnson and the Impact ofPrint"), in fact Lipking is far less concerned with the publishingindustry and more concerned with Johnson's writings themselves. A moredirect comparison might be made to DeMaria's "Samuel Johnson,"but even there the comparison is weak.Like Lipking, DeMaria analyzesJohnson's writings, but Lipking is less concerned about context, andconcentrates far more on the writings. ... Read more

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In 1773 Samuel Johnson and James Boswell made their celebrated journey through the Highlands of Scotland and the Hebrides. Johnson published his great account, the "Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" in 1775, and it became one of the most acute - and popular - social commentaries of its age. The 33 year old Boswell composed his more anecdotal and high-spirited journal, "A Tour to the Hebrides", in 1786; it is chiefly a revelatory portrait of Johnson as he ventured into the unfamiliar regions of a remote part of Britain. This edition, in which the two accounts are presented side-by-side, page-by-page, makes it possible to compare both versions of a single experience. Johnson's text is presented in full, while Boswell's writing has been edited so that his narrative stands adjacent to the same portion of Johnson's text. Johnson's account is augmented by a selection of the letters written during the journey to his friend, Mrs Hester Thrale. The book is divided into sections covering the successive stages of the journey, so that each phase of the trip is allotted a chapter of its own.The book also contains an editorial introduction, a glossary of names, a note on the publishing history of the two narratives and scholarly notation. Numerous contemporary illustrations accompany the text, depicting the flavour of the region as the travellers encountered it more than two centuries ago. ... Read more

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This edition makes available for the first time the largest collection of unpublished material by the great eigteenth-century writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson in existence. For the revised fourth edition (1773) of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson and his amanuensis annotated over one hundred and twenty interleaved folio pages of the first edition, but the printer for unknown reasons failed to include the corrections. These pages, including hundreds of authorial additions and changes to the text, are reproduced here in facsimile, along with a transcription, an extensive commentary and notes. This extraordinary archive offers a unique record of Johnson's methods of revision, his collaboration with his assistants, and the preparation of printer's copy in general. Johnson's deletion and editing of hundreds of new quotations, notes, and definitions contributed by others sheds much new light on his intentions for his work and his attitudes towards language and literature. ... Read more

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This Companion provides a unique introduction and guide to the works and life of one of the key figures in English literary history. The source of endless familiar aphorisms, the compiler of the first great dictionary in English, the greatest of essayists, and one of the most distinctive characters and conversationalists in our literary culture, Johnson is here surveyed in his entirety. Chapters on the major works, his life, conversation, letters and critical reception appear alongside fresh thematic essays, a chronology and a guide to further reading. ... Read more

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A very fine introduction to the works and themes of Johnson.
The challenge of segregating Johnson's works into their themes and forms must have been daunting, but Greg Clingham and the several writers who contributed to this edition have done a marvelous job of providing anintroduction to Johnson and his works.Chapters examine his poetry, hisessays, his Dictionary, his attitudes towards religion, and women...Thisbook will be appreciated by beginning and intermediate Johnsonians, andshould be read. ... Read more

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This volume brings together three of Johnson's longest fictional pieces, works which embody different literary genres but share unusual similarities in some of their principle themes and emphases. "Rasselas", perhaps the most popular of Johnson's publications, is a philosophical tale that encompasses the full range of Johnson's thinking on moral, psychological and literary matters. It is considered by many to be central to an understanding of Johnson and his age. "The Vision of Theodore", a moral allegory, and "The Fountains", a fairy tale, demonstrate clearly the variety of Johnson's narrative skills. The three works are introduced and annotated by Gwin J. Kolb, a recognized authority on "Rasselas", and the texts reflect Kolb's examination of pertinent materials. The introductions cover a wider range of topics than has been addressed in previous editions, and the historical notes comprise the largest body of glosses that has accompanied the three pieces. ... Read more

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James Macpherson's famous hoax, publishing his own poems as the writings of the ancient Scots bard Ossian in the 1760s, remains fascinating to scholars as the most successful literary fraud in history. This study presents the fullest investigation of his deception to date, by looking at the controversy from the point of view of Samuel Johnson. Johnson's dispute with Macpherson was an argument with wide implications not only for literature, but for the emerging national identities of the British nations during the Celtic revival. Thomas M. Curley offers a wealth of genuinely new information, detailing as never before Johnson's involvement in the Ossian controversy, his insistence on truth-telling, and his interaction with others in the debate. The appendix reproduces a rare pamphlet against Ossian written with the assistance of Johnson himself. This book will be an important addition to knowledge about both the Ossian controversy and Samuel Johnson.
Watch Dr. Curley discuss his latest book:

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In Nine Volumes. ... Read more