SAMUEL JOHNSON’S WORKS, HANDSOMELY BOUND

JOHNSON, Samuel. The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Oxford and London: Talboys and Wheeler and W. Pickering, 1825. Nine volumes. Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter brown calf gilt, raised bands, red and green morocco spine labels, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. $2600.

Early 19th-century edition of Johnson’s works, handsomely bound.

Johnson’s works “remain a monument of genius and learning. Had he written nothing but what is contained in this edition, the quantity shews a life spent in study and meditation. If to this we added the labour of his Dictionary and other various productions, it may be fairly allowed, as he used to say of himself, that he has written his share” (Murphy). Includes The Rambler, Lives of the Poets, Journey to the Hebrides, Johnson's poems, letters, sermons, miscellaneous pieces, and Murphy’s “Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson.” With engraved frontispiece portrait in Volume I. Without supplementary volumes X and XI of Debates, added later. Courtney & Smith, 166. Occasional owner signatures largely erased.

A fine set, handsomely bound.