Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 (The Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell) - Softcover

[The journal is] more perceptive and uninhibited and magically alive than one could have hoped... Boswell transforms the most trifling occurrences into adventures, and imparts to the reader his own surpassing lust for experience and his keen sense of the fascination of life. -- Austin Wright The journal is admirably edited and annotated. -- W. H. Auden [The journal is] more perceptive and uninhibited and magically alive than one could have hoped... Boswell transforms the most trifling occurrences into adventures, and imparts to the reader his own surpassing lust for experience and his keen sense of the fascination of life. The journal is admirably edited and annotated.

Boswell was the most charming companion in the world, and London becomes his dining room and his playground, his club and his confessional. No celebrant of the London world can ignore his book.' Peter Ackroyd, from the Foreword In 1762 James Boswell, then twenty-two years old, left Edinburgh for London. The famous Journal he kept during the next nine months is an intimate account of his encounters with the high-life and the low-life in London. Frank and confessional as a personal portrait of the young Boswell, the Journal is also revealing as a vivid portrayal of life in eighteenth-century London. This new edition includes a Foreword by Peter Ackroyd, which discusses Boswell's life and achievement. Key Features: * Features a new Foreword by Peter Ackroyd, author of London: The Biography * This edition of Boswell's classic text has long been recognised as THE authoritative version * Edited by the renowned Boswell expert, the late Frederick A. Pottle * Includes a first-class introduction and informative notes throughout