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revised and augmented,' by Alexander Chalmers, 1822, 4 vols. 8vo, well printed by T. Baldwin, whose predecessor, H. Baldwin, was the printer of the first edition. Chalmers had made some contributions to the sixth edition, and added more to this one, which is really the seventh, although nominally the ninth, edition. Chalmers refers to the fact that not above four or five persons were living in 1822 whose names occurred in the first edition of the 'Life' as surviving friends. In more recent times, perhaps, the venerable President of Magdalen, Martin Joseph Routh, who died in 1854, in his 100th year, is the latest of those who had actually conversed with Johnson. There is a hearty old gentleman, who is still alive, who knew in his youth a man who had been a clerk at Thrale's, and who often spoke of having carried hares to Johnson from the brewery, generally receiving a shilling from Johnson on those occasions.

"The tenth edition appeared as 'The Life of S. Johnson, by J. Boswell,' in 1826, 4 vols. 8vo, at Oxford, published by Wm. Pickering, London, and Talboys and Wheeler Oxford.' It belongs to the Oxford English Classics Series,' and is the handsomest edition produced to that date. A portrait of Boswell is added for the first time. It is edited by F. P. Walesby, of Wadham College, whose name does not appear in the book. It includes information derived from documents purchased at Boswell's sale, and some recollections of old servants who remembered Johnson. The first single volume edition was one issued in 1827, in 8vo, of no value. The full title was used in the latter, as also in an unabridged reprint, with copious notes and biographical illustrations by E. Malone,' London, 1830; forming part of 'Sharpe's Library of the Belles Lettres,' which were monthly cabinet volumes in duodecimo size and published at 4s. each. It is beautifully printed in small type at the Chiswick Press. There is no index.

"The idea of an entirely new edition was first broached by Croker to John Murray in the course of a conversation held on the 8th of January, 1829; the next day Croker wrote a letter explaining his idea of using Hawkins, Mrs. Piozzi, and later writers, and of inserting their contributions in the body of the text. The publisher agreed to the plan, and offered a thousand guineas for the editorship. Croker at once set to work, and Murray issued, in 1831, what may be styled the eleventh edition, in 5 vols. 8vo, under the title of 'The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, by James Boswell: a

new edition, with numerous additions and notes, by John Wilson Croker.' There are portraits and the best index hitherto compiled. Later editors have fully recognised the painstaking research of Croker. He was able to add largely to the existing stores of Johnsoniana, and Dr. Hall, Dr. Harwood, Lord Rokeby, Lord Stowell, Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Walter Scott, and many others, gave him valuable memoranda. Besides the 'Tour to the Hebrides,' added for the first time to the Life,' to which it so intimately belongs, both in form and sentiment, Croker incorporated the whole of Mrs. Piozzi's 'Anecdotes and Letters,' Johnson's own Tour in Wales,' Courtenay's 'Poetical Review of the Character of Dr. Johnson,' and large extracts from Hawkins, Tyers, Murphy, and many other writers. Unfortunately, Croker wished to connect all his stores of information into one nar, rative, and carried into effect his project of interpolating and transposing portions of Boswell's original work. This objectionable treatment was justly reprehended by many of the reviewers. Carlyle in Fraser

Macaulay in the Edinburgh, and a writer in the Quarterly denounced it; and, as we shall presently see, Croker himself entirely altered the arrangement in the next edition. Macaulay's violent attack is well known, but many of his strictures were unmerited; and Dr. Hill, the most recent editor, gives an ample share of praise to Croker's labours. His was the first critical edition, but it is very evident that Croker had much to learn of the literary history of his subject. The question of Croker's competency has been specially dealt with in a work by Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, Croker's Boswell and Boswell: studies in the Life of Johnson,' 1880, 8vo; and there are chapters on Macaulay and Carlyle's estimate of Boswell, and Dr. G. B. Hill's 'Dr. Johnson, his friends and his critics,' 1878, 8vo.

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"In 1835, Murray produced a second edition of Croker's Boswell, but without his name on the title-page, and edited by John Knight. In the preface it is stated that the present editors, however, have not judged it proper to follow the example of Mr. Croker in interweaving with the text of Boswell any materials, however valuable, derived from other pens than those of Dr. Johnson and the original biographer himself. All extracts are omitted from the body of the book, and either distributed in footnotes or collected at the end as Johnsoniana. Boswell's 'Tour to the Hebrides,' Johnson's own Tour in Wales,' and the Thrale correspondence are, however, retained in the text. This, the twelfth,

appeared as The Life of S. Johnson, including a Journal of his Tour to the Hebrides, by J. Boswell; to which are added anecdotes by Hawkins, Piozzi, Murphy, Tyers, Reynolds, Steevens, &c., and notes by various hands' (London, J. Murray, 1835, 10 vols. 12mo). The two last volumes consist of the Johnsoniana. The text is divided for the first time into chapters, and a number of excellent steel engravings are added. The index is not so complete as in the previous octavo edition. It was first published at fifty shillings, and then reduced to thirty shillings. It also came out in Bohn's Shilling Series' in 1859, 10 vols. 12mo, and again in 1864. It is the only edition (besides Napier's) containing the Johnsoniana which was published separately in an octavo, 1836 and afterwards. Murray's original issue is the most desirable, as the plates are much worn in the reprint. Bogue published an edition in 1840, 1 vol. fcap. 8vo. It is scarcely necessary to number the subsequent editions.

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"Croker's name appears again on the title-page of a single volume, royal octavo, issued by Murray in 1848, which describes itself as 'a new edition, thoroughly revised, with much additional matter.' In the preface, dated September, 1847, Croker announces that the present edition is formed on the same principle [as that in 10 vols. 12mo]; for, in addition to every other motive, its shape and size required as much compression as possible. Boswell's text is therefore uninterrupted; but I have retained the most important biographical extracts from the Thrale correspondence, and have even found room for a few more additional letters. I have also added several new notes, and have abridged, altered, and, I hope, improved many of the old ones.' It is in double columns, in a small but legible type, with a vignette of Boswell and a frontispiece containing the different Johnson portraits. The index is the same as in the 1835 edition. Reprints came out in 1851 (with additional illustrations), 1860 (in shilling parts), and 1876.

"The original title appears on a new edition, elucidated by copious notes and illustrated with numerous portraits, views and characteristic designs engraved from authentic sources,' London, office of the National Illustrated Library (1851-2), 4 vols. crown 8vo, published at 2s. 6d. each. The Tour to the Hebrides' is in a separate volume. Ingram was the publisher and R. Carruthers the editor. The text is divided into chapters. Many of the engravings represent fancy scenes. It is the first popular illustrated edition. Messrs. Kent published an edition

in 1 vol. 12mo, in 1861; and Messrs. Charles Griffin and Company reprinted, in 1861, 1865, and 1867, Malone's fifth edition unabridged, as 'The Life of S. Johnson, LL.D., with his correspondence and conversations, by E. Malone,' a royal octavo, in double columns, with index. It contains a vignette of Johnson's dwelling-places and some fancy woodcuts, and was re-issued in 'Blackwood's Universal Library of Standard Authors' (J. Blackwood & Co.), n.d. [1872], with a portrait added to the other illustrations. We find the original title heading a new edition, illustrated with copious notes, with illustrations by Julian Portch,' published in 1867 and 1869 by Geo. Routledge & Sons, a post octavo, in double columns, with index. It is a reprint of Malone's sixth edition divided into chapters, with a few notes added. Messrs. Routledge also produced the 'Life' in 1878, 4 vols. post 8vo, and 1883, 3 vols. cr. 8vo, with the illustrations and Tour to the Hebrides.' The same firm also issued in 1884 a single volume, 'Centenary Edition,' small type, cr. 8vo. W. P. Nimmo produced at Edinburgh in 1873 a roy. 8vo volume, 'The Life of S. Johnson, LL.D., by J. Boswell, a new and complete edition, carefully revised from the most authentic sources, edited with notes, &c., by W. Wallace,' said to be collated with the best editions. There is no index, only a brief list of persons and places; some notes are added, others withdrawn. The book is divided into chapters, and contains a portrait and vignette.

"We now come to a valuable contribution to Boswellian literature in 'The Life of S. Johnson, LL.D., together with a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, by J. Boswell; a reprint of the first edition, to which are added Mr. Boswell's corrections and additions, issued in 1792; the variations of the second edition, with some of the author's notes prepared for the third; the whole edited with a few notes by Percy Fitzgerald,' London (Bickers), 1874, three octavo volumes, with portrait, facsimiles and map. Mr. Fitzgerald carefully points out Boswell's successive corrections and additions, and draws attention to many interesting changes introduced by the author. In this way we are able to follow Boswell's method of work. The various alterations of the text made by Croker are indicated, as well as those due to Malone, who has not generally been suspected of such practices. Boswell's own index is given, with the pagination altered. The editor's work, 'Croker's Boswell and Boswell' (1880, 8vo), should be read with this

edition. The results of a collation of the three first editions of the 'Tour to the Hebrides' are given.

"The Rev. Alexander Napier was engaged for many years in preparing the excellent edition produced by him in 1884: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., together with the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, by J. Boswell; new edition, with notes and appendices' (G. Bell & Sons), 1884, five handsome volumes, roy. 8vo, with steel engravings, portraits and facsimiles. It also appeared in the same year, in 6 vols. fcap. 8vo, with some of the illustrations. The latter is the most useful of the editions in small size. In the preface, Mr. Napier supplies an interesting account of the pre-Boswellian 'Lives.' The texts of the 'Life' and the 'Tour' are given as they left Boswell's hands. The notes are not oppressively numerous, and appendices contain a variety of illustrative information too extensive to be included in the body of the work. The chief feature is the fifth (the sixth in the small size) or supplementary and unnumbered volume, entitled 'Johnsoniana; anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D., by Mrs. Piozzi, Richard Cumberland, Bishop Percy and others, together with the Diary of Dr. Campbell and extracts from that of Madame D'Arblay, newly collected and edited by Robina Napier.' This is not a mere reprint of the former 'Johnsoniana." Each article is given whole and intact, and no liberties are taken with the original text, to which full reference is given. The volume includes the most interesting contribution made to Johnsonian literature since Mrs. Piozzi's 'Anecdotes.' This is the Diary of a Visit to England

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in 1775,' by the Irish Dr. Campbell, discovered and published in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1854, by Mr. Raymond, and now for the first time printed in England.

"To their popular editions already mentioned, Messrs. G. Routledge added, in 1885, one for the library-the 'Sir Joshua Reynolds Edition,' edited by Prof. Henry Morley; 'The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL, D., and the Journal of his Tour to the Hebrides, by J. Boswell, illustrated with Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds,' 5 vols. roy. 8vo, with mezzotints. Only 500 copies were produced. It is well printed and contains a few notes. The editor has prefixed notices of Reynolds, Boswell, Malone and Croker, and a brilliant essay on the spirit of Johnson is appended to the last volume. Johnson's own account of his early life is included. There is a useful and original dated index, as well as a very good general alphabetical index.

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