Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., During the Last Twenty Years of His Life

Title: Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., During the Last Twenty Years of His Life

Author: Piozzi, Hester Lynch

Publication: London: Printed for T. Cadell in the Strand, 1786.

Description: Piozzi's biography of Samuel Johnson, the first major biography of his life, in which she provides a detailed portrait of him based on events recorded in her diaries. The book was hugely popular, with the first edition selling out within hours and four more editions issued the same year. This is a copy of the fourth edition. With half-title and postscript leaf, in which she defends herself from an inaccurate claim about her made by James Boswell. Bound in contemporary full brown calfskin leather over boards, smooth gilt spine with red lettering piece, gilt board edges. Octavo; 7.25 x 4.75 inches; viii, 306, [2] pages. From the collection of Arthur Williams Hall (1873-1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his penciled acquisition price code on front free endpaper; thence by descent through three generations. Moderate wear to binding and staining to endpapers and margins of several leaves, else an attractive, clean copy. Very Good.

References: - English short title catalogue, T99796. - Romney, Rebecca. Jane Austen's bookshelf : a rare book collector's quest to find the women writers who shaped a legend. New York: Marysue Rucci Books, 2025.