Description
The third volume of Samuel Johnson's "THE LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT POETS; WITH CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR WORKS....A new edition, corrected." No, unfortunately i don't have the other 3 parts of the collection. This one was printed in 1783, which i think would make it the third printing. See table of contents for list of poets contained in this volume. I know it sounds like it'd be a boring book, but apparently celebrities got into quite a few legal shenanigans and twitter battles with each other, even back then. Richard Savage, in particular, takes up about half of this book and that man lived a LIFE. its like reading an old timey gossip magazine, which is the kind of history i live for. I didn't pick out the juiciest pages for the photos, by the way; just randomly opened it up and -bam!- there's juice to be had. SPECS: Book is 8.5" tall, 5.5" wide, 1.25" thick. 342 pages. Full leather cover, with gilt spine. No illustrations; i know later editions included that now-meme-famous engraving of Johnson looking disgustedly at a paper, but unfortunately this book is too old :( CONDITION: First off, please look carefully at pics (also realize this copy is so old, it existed back when George Washington and Marie Antoinette were alive and well, so cut it some slack): Some wear to cover, including darker spots on leather, some cracking to edges of spine. I oiled and waxed it about 3 years ago to keep it supple, so it will not need that again for a while. inside is a little yellowed, with occasional spots. 2 former owners wrote their names in the front of it, and one did a little math calculation in the very back. There is one old slip of paper used as a bookmark, and....a dead fly preserved in the pages. I left them in there for now, cuz i think it's kind of cool to have a time capsule of a bug that's probably been dead for over a hundred years....i like to imagine someone slapped the book closed on it, like a Venus flycatcher, while reading, and was so proud they caught it, they left the evidence of their accomplishment for future generations to marvel at. If you want me to pick it out of there before i ship to you let me know. i realize insect carcasses may not be for everyone, haha. Check out my other listings for more old and rare books from my personal collection. if you're into reading 200+ year old gossip, check out my first english printing of Casanova's memoirs. somehow even better than this. shipping is automatically combined at checkout when you add items to your cart. If you need more info or photos on anything, let me know.
Maxim Nikolaev
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Nevin Reynolds
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