Rasselas - photo 1
Rasselas - photo 2

Rasselas

Lot 98
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 2 520
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 813758
Lot 98 | Rasselas
Estimate value
$ 3 000 – 5 000
Rasselas

Samuel Johnson, 1754

[JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784).] [Rasselas.] The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale. London: R. and J. Dodsley and W. Johnston, 1754.



First edition. According to Boswell, “None of [Johnson's] writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe; for it has been translated into most, if not all, of the modern languages." Johnson began writing Rasselas in January 1759 after his mother's death as a way to pay for her burial and discharge her small amount of debt. He finished it in a week and "this rapidity of execution is said to have been due to the fact all his life long he had been pondering over its chief topics" (Courtney & Smith). While the title Rasselas did not appear in any of the editions published during Johnson’s lifetime, the heading on the first page of both volumes in the first editions reads: “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia.” This copy bears the bookplate of the St Quintin family; of the many William St Quintins, the best-known is perhaps Sir William St Quintin, 3rd Baronet (c.1662-1723), who was an English merchant and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1695-1723. Courtney & Smith pp. 85-87, Rothschild 1242.



Two volumes, octavo (150 x 85mm). Final blank present in vol. 2 (titles a little darkened at margins, small loss to upper corner of front free endpaper in vol.2). Contemporary calf (rebacked with original spines laid down). Provenance: William St Quintin (armorial bookplate).

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