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BOSWELL, James

The Life of Samuel Johnson

The Life of Samuel Johnson

London: The Folio Society, 1968

Illustrated by

£488.00
£488.00
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The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, [Exhibiting a view of literature & literary men in Great Britain for near half a century during which he flourished].

London: The Folio Society, 1968.

Limited Edition of only 200 unnumbered copies that were offered by the Society in an alternative, more luxurious binding in 1968 for those members who wanted an upgraded standard edition.

Edited by Rodney Shewan, volume one [–two]. 254 × 163 × 38–44 mm. 2 vols (pp. [1–7] 8–568: [16] leaves of gravure plates; [1–9] 10–682 [683–684]: [16] leaves of gravure plates). Type: Ehrhardt with Rosart capitals at chapter openings. Printed by Mackay, the gravures by D.H. Greaves. Bound by T C Woolnough & Son Ltd in full red goatskin leather titled in gold, with Cockerell marbled endleaves. Red buckram-covered two-volume slip case. The text follows the first edition of 1791, corrected according to Boswell’s Principal corrections and additions, published to accompany the second edition in 1793.

Good condition, with a little wear to extremities and a handful of small foxing spots to edges. Following some heavy sun damage to the spines, both books have been professionally recoloured and polished; despite best efforts, they are still slightly different shades, although looking a lot better than before. Internally clean and unblemished, with tight bindings. Housed in a slipcase that had also suffered some discolouration and blotches, and that has been dyed and polished; this left behind only some very light discolouration around extremities and a little shelf-wear. One of Folio's lowest limitation productions; a very rare set, scarcely found on the secondary market.

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