Volume I: 1731-1772 (Letters of Samuel Johnson) - Hardcover

`The best letters in this magnificent compendium, are those addressed to his beloved Mrs Thrale ...' A.N. Wilson, London Evening Standard.

`This is an extraordinary collection which deserves a place in the library of anyone who is interested in Johnson, or the 18th century, or humankind itself.'Peter Ackroyd, The Times

`Our American fellow-speakers of English have done Johnson proud in the past. Now, with this collection, published by the Clarendon Press ... they have done him proud again.'J. Enoch Powell, Sunday Times

`the meticulous recording of Johnson's crossings-out and corrections and of the present whereabouts of manuscripts are valuable and pleasing on their own account.'Lorna Sage, Observer

`As an act of scholarship, the work requires no pleading on its behalf.'Giles Smith, Independent on Sunday

`There have been serious editions of Dr Johnson's correspondence before ... but this one, done in an appropriately grand manner, supersedes them all.'Frank Kermode

`[This] new edition of his correspondence, the most complete so far, brings out the many-sidedness of the man. ... Clearly then, Chapman's [edition] has been superseded by this new edition. ... the majestic heights of Redford's great new edition of Johnson's letters.'Anthony Curtis, Financial Times

`sumptuously well-edited collection' Jonathan Keates, The Independent

`The time was ripe for a new gathering, and Professor Bruce Redford has carried out the task with stylish efficiency. ...printers and designers deserve all praise for the elegance of presentation. Good paper, robust bindings, and a large type-face, all combine to make the edition a joy to handle.' alan Bell, The Spectator

`Bruce Redford's new edition of Johnson's Letters is, as one, would expect superior in several wasy to R. W. Chapman's 1952 edition. ...the letters in these volumes are well spaced and handsomely printed ...Fifty-two new letters have been added to the canon, of which undoubtedly the most important are the twelve to Charlotte Lennox confirming Johnson's significance as a promoter of female writers.David Nokes, Times Literary Supplement

This is the first scholarly edition of Johnson's letters to appear for forty years. It presents new letters, more accurate texts, and more up-to-date annotation than its predecessors. Fifty-two previously unknown letters or parts of letters have come to light since R. W. Chapman's edition (Oxford, 1952). Such `new' letters, however, are scarcely more important than those for which only inferior printed texts or copies of varying reliability have previously been available. This edition offers scores of texts transcribed for the first time from the original documents - a statistic of special importance in the case of Johnson's revealing letters to Hester Thrale, many of which have only been known in expurgated form.

For the first time, substantive deletions are recorded, yielding intimate knowledge of Johnson's stylistic procedures, mental habits, and chains of association. Furthermore, detailed ownership credits document the current disposition of the manuscripts, hundreds of which have changed hands during the last four decades. Finally, the annotation of the letters incorporates the many significant discoveries of post-war Johnsonian scholarship, as well as decoding references that had resisted explanation before. The result is a more accurate and more comprehensive understanding of Samuel Johnson, man of letters.