first edition Tile-page printed in red and black. xii, 396, [8, contents] pp. 1 vols. 8vo
1735 · London
by (Johnson, Samuel) Lobo, Jerome
London: A. Bettesworth, 1735. First edition, first issue. Tile-page printed in red and black. xii, 396, [8, contents] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Bound in half brown morocco and marbled boards, black morocco spine label. Neatly rebacked. Bookplate of Nicholas Frederic Brady, small leather label of the Brick Row Bookshop. First edition, first issue. Tile-page printed in red and black. xii, 396, [8, contents] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. First English edition of this account of the Portuguese mission to Abyssina, written by Father Lobo (1593-1678), which was long unpublished. Samuel Johnson read the 1728 edition of Legrand's french translation while at Pembroke College. Johnson "dictated the translation to [Edmund] Hector in the winter of 1733-4, who rewrote it and corrected the proofs, 'very few of which were seen by Johnson' (Life i.87), and SJ received 5 guineas for the work" (Fleeman).
The first published work by Samuel Johnson. Fleeman 35.2 LV/1a (Inventory #: 261515)
The first published work by Samuel Johnson. Fleeman 35.2 LV/1a (Inventory #: 261515)