JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784) - photo 1
JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784) - photo 2

JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784)

Lot 158
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 6 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249787
Lot 158 | JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784)
Estimate value
£ 6 000 – 8 000
JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784)
A Dictionary of the English Language. London: W. Strahan for J. and P. Knapton, et al. 1755.
The first edition of Johnson’s dictionary, a landmark achievement of English literature, ‘a monument of industry and talent [and] the unrivalled authority for the English language’ (Courtney and Smith p.54). Johnson’s achievement in compiling his great Dictionary was immediately recognized. In one of its earliest reviews, Adam Smith commended it, and Boswell called it a work of ‘superior excellence’; it was the only work Johnson called ‘my Book’ (Letters I: 71). Not only did he provide lucid definitions and codify spelling but he provided c. 114,000 illustrative quotations, providing a compendium of excerpts from canonical works of English literature, meaning that even today it ‘may still be consulted for instruction as well as pleasure’ (PMM). Johnson's great literary labour, produced in the garret of his house in Gough Square, was published in 2,000 copies, and Fleeman estimated that only about half may survive. The present copy has variant settings for sheets 19D (press figure 7 and catchword ‘It’) and 24O (press figure 2 and catchword ‘So’ngstress’). Courtney & Smith, p. 54-55, Fleeman 55.4D/1a, Rothschild 1237, William B. Todd, ‘Note 242: Variants in Johnson's Dictionary, 1755’, in The Book Collector, 14, Summer 1965, pp. 212-214.

Two volumes, folio (420 x 260mm). Titles in red and black, woodcut tail-pieces (vol. 1: 2K2 fractionally unevenly cut by the binder, some spotting and marginal dampstaining, mainly affecting the gatherings at the beginning and with quires 4R-5E more heavily browned, 2 tiny marginal nicks to 2T2; vol. 2: faint marginal staining to a few leaves at beginning, 16M2 with short marginal tear into catchword and repaired with old paper on verso, 18A1 with small marginal chip, quires 26H-S with light marginal creasing; some occasional faint browning and spotting, otherwise a crisp, clean copy). Contemporary calf, covers with blind roll-tooled border, spines with raised bands in 7 compartments, red and black morocco gilt labels in 2nd and 3rd compartments, red edges (worn, front cover of vol. 1 heavily abraded, black spine labels heavily worn, extremities rubbed, head- and tailcaps heavily rubbed and abraded, joints cracking). Provenance: Sir John McTaggart, 1st Baronet (1789-1867; engraved armorial bookplate).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
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