Dr Samuel Johnson (1709 84) is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of English literature, as a poet, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. This collected edition of his works commissioned by the publisher within hours of Johnson's death, such was his celebrity was published in 1787 in eleven volumes, edited by his literary executor, the musicologist Sir John Hawkins. Volume 1 is entirely devoted to a biography of Johnson by Hawkins, his close friend. Although Boswell's 1791 Life is much better known, Hawkins had been acquainted with Johnson for far longer,...
Dr Samuel Johnson (1709 84) is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of English literature, as a poet, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, ed...