Description
The Lives Of The Most Eminent English Poets With Critical Observations on their Works. A New Edition, Corrected. By Samuel Johnson In Two Volumes Printed for Benjamin Johnson, No. 31 Market Street, And Samuel F. Bradford , No. 4 South Third Street , Philadelphia Coale & Oliver, Printers 1803 First American Edition Hardcovers. Full Leather Bindings. Full " Tree " Leather. [ tree leather is calfskin treated to form a design on the covers, resembling the branches of a tree ] Original Red Morocco Spine Labels. Gilt ruling on spines ( rules are not placed the same on both volumes). Printed on Laid Paper, with Chain Lines. 5.5" x 8.75" ( 8vo. ) Volume I ; (6) + 408 pages + endpapers. Volume II ; (4) + 423 pages + endpapers. Complete in Two Volumes Well over 200 years old. Almost old enough to qualify as an Early American Imprint. The First American Edition of Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century. These Lives are arranged, approximately, by date of death. Includes John Milton ( author of " Paradise Lost " and " Paradise Regained ," etc.), Jonathan Swift ( author of " Gulliver's Travels ," etc. ), Isaac Watts ( author of the hymn " Joy to the World ," etc. ) and many, many more. Author Samuel Johnson ( 1709 - 1784 ), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is the subject of James Boswell 's The Life of Samuel Johnson, described by Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature". It was towards the end of his life that he produced the influential work, " Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets ", a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th and 18th century poets. Condition General binding wear, rubbing, heavy wear at the binding edges. Each volume has some loss of spine leather, and a little loss of leather on the covers. Though there is a little splitting, all covers remain firmly attached. ( see the photos ) A former owner's private bookplate on the front pastedown of each. (" Ex Libris George Bramwell Baker ") Ink and pencil former owner's inscription on the front endpapers, dated 1815 and 1852. Endpaper and title-page foxing. Just a little foxing elsewhere. The laid paper is toned but remains very flexible. The pages are otherwise in very good condition. Early and scarce. Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer .
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