The Life of Samuel Johnson, Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, in Two Volumes

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1875. Hard Cover. Good/No Jacket. 0x0x0. Front joint of first volume splitting, edges rubbed with minor loss from spine ends of each, corners exposed. Binding tight and square, pages clean, bright, and unmarked. 1875 Hard Cover. Complete in two volumes. xiii, 563; 505 pp. Additions and notes by John Wilson Croker. Samuel Johnson, byname Dr. Johnson, (born September 18, 1709, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England - died December 13, 1784, London), English critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, regarded as one of the greatest figures of 18th-century life and letters. Johnson once characterized literary biographies as "mournful narratives," and he believed that he lived "a life radically wretched." Yet his career can be seen as a literary success story of the sickly boy from the Midlands who by talent, tenacity, and intelligence became the foremost literary figure and the most formidable conversationalist of his time. For future generations, Johnson was synonymous with the later 18th century in England. The disparity between his circumstances and achievement gives his life its especial interest. - Britannica