BOSWELL, JAMES.

THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON.

(Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., 1896). 178 x 114 mm (7 x 4 1/2"). Bound with the half titles. Six volumes. Edited by Augustine Birrell.

Simple but pleasing contemporary tan crushed morocco over vertically ribbed green buckram, spines flat with gilt lettering, olive green chalky endpapers, top edges gilt, other edges rough trimmed. With engraved frontispiece in each volume. A touch of rubbing to the joints and extremities, backstrips just very slightly sunned, but an extremely appealing little set, the bindings with negligible wear (the cloth boards like new), and the text entirely fresh and clean.

This edition of the famous biography (see previous item for more information) was edited by Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), lawyer, Liberal politician, and chief secretary for Ireland during the difficult years 1907-16. Birrell was also a respected man of letters and bibliophile, amassing a library of more than 10,000 volumes. DNB calls his essay on Johnson "witty and elegant." (ST11462a-194)