Book: James Boswell’s 'Life of Johnson'

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James Boswell’s “Life of Johnson”: An Edition of the Original Manuscript in Four Volumes. Volume 3: 1776-1780

Gordon Turnbull, general editor, Boswell Editions; Thomas F. Bonnell, editor

(Yale University Press)

The original manuscript of James Boswell’s “Life of Johnson” — a composite of his basic draft and innumerable revisions — served as printer’s copy, despite its maze-like appearance. This volume, third of a projected four, offers a genetic transcription, forming an edition designed to make this complex document accessible for the first time. Supplemented by textual and explanatory notes, the transcription enables readers to trace changes Boswell made in the process of composition and printing, restores lost and deleted material, and corrects a range of previously undetected errors and misreadings.