The Life of Samuel Johnson, the Whitby-Wedgwood copy - photo 1

The Life of Samuel Johnson, the Whitby-Wedgwood copy

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$ 6 930
Auction dateClassic
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 813697
Lot 89 | The Life of Samuel Johnson, the Whitby-Wedgwood copy
The Life of Samuel Johnson, the Whitby-Wedgwood copy

James Boswell, 1791

BOSWELL, James (1740-1795). The Life of Samuel Johnson. London: Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1791.



First edition, with a biographically important letter recommending Johnson as a tutor. The Whitby-Wedgwood copy. While the latter part of Johnson's life is incredibly well-documented, less has been known about his earlier years. The letter included with this copy of The Life records the start of his time as a tutor to John Whitby (1716-1751), the eldest son of Thomas Whitby (c.1672-1747) of Great Haywood, Staffordshire, in May-June 1735, until he departed to marry Elizabeth Porter on 9 July 1735 (see Letters, p.11, note 16). Here the Hon. John Addenbrooke (c.1691-1776; later Dean of Lichfield) writes to Thomas Whitby regarding Johnson and asks him to propose terms: "I have sent you enclosed Mr Johnson's letter to Mr Levett. The sum I mentioned to Mr Levett was as little as, I thought, could be offered to a Gentleman of Character for half-a-year's attendance. But his affairs, you see, won't give him leave to be with your son so long ... I can only say, that if Mr Johnson will do what he is capable of doing in that time, he will be of more service to your Son than a year Spent in the usual way at the University." An additional note by a later descendant, also named Thomas Whitby, is dated 18 November 1824. He writes that his aunt remembered Johnson as a "Tutor to her Brother and that he frequently instructed her in the English language." The "Mr Levett" referred to is Theophilus Levett (1693–1746), a friend of Johnson's and prominent Staffordshire barrister and politician. He and Johnson were members of a thriving Lichfield social circle that also included Erasmus Darwin and Anna Seward. While the content of Addenbrooke's letter is recorded in Johnson references, the physical document had been thought long lost until it was recently re-discovered.



This copy bears the bookplate of Hensleigh C. Wedgwood, a descendant of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), the English potter and founder of Wedgwood and Sons, and another friend of Erasmus Darwin. Josiah's daughter Susannah would marry Robert Darwin in 1796 and give birth to their son Charles in 1809. The present copy of The Life is the second state with “give” on page 135. Rothschild 463.



Two volumes, quarto (272 x 215mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece of Johnson by James Heath after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 2 engraved plates of facsimiles by H. Shepherd, and all seven cancels present (inner margins of preliminaries reinforced at gutter, preliminary leaves starting to detach, some browning internally). Contemporary mottled calf (rebacked, worn at joints with repair to upper cover of vol. 1, corners showing). [With:] Autograph letter signed from the Honorable John Addenbrooke, Rector of Stafford and later Dean of Lichfield ("J Addenbrooke"), to Thomas Whitby, Esq., Stafford, 10 May [c.1735]; with later subscription by Thomas Whitby, 18 November 1824. Provenance: Thomas Whitby of Cresswell, c.1672-1747 (inscription, bookplate, letter) – Hensleigh C. Wedgwood, 1909-1991 (bookplate).

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