Dr. Johnson: His Religious Life and His Death [Samuel]

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1850. Hard Cover. Fair/No Jacket. 0x0x0. Rebacked with original backstrip laid down. Stained, edges rubbed, pages foxed. 1850 Hard Cover. 405, 2 pp. A biography of the author whose life was immortalized by James Boswell. Samuel Johnson, byname Dr. Johnson, (born September 18, 1709, Lichfield, Staffordshire, England - died December 13, 1784, London), English critic, biographer, essayist, poet, and lexicographer, regarded as one of the greatest figures of 18th-century life and letters. Johnson once characterized literary biographies as 'mournful narratives,' and he believed that he lived 'a life radically wretched.' Yet his career can be seen as a literary success story of the sickly boy from the Midlands who by talent, tenacity, and intelligence became the foremost literary figure and the most formidable conversationalist of his time. For future generations, Johnson was synonymous with the later 18th century in England. The disparity between his circumstances and achievement gives his life its especial interest. - Britannica