"It is now become so much the fashion to publish letters, that in order to avoid it, I put as little into mine as I can," Samuel Johnson declared, according to Boswell. And Boswell answered, "Do what you will, Sir, you cannot avoid it. Should you even write as ill as you can, your letters would be published as curiosities." But Johnson's letters are far more than that. Even at their most cursory and casual, they are never less than precious biographical documents, and many of them mirror, define, and re-create a vivid likeness of the most versatile writer of eighteenth-century England. With these three volumes Princeton University Press inaugurates the first scholarly edition of this remarkable material to appear in forty years--the planned five-volume series The Letters of Samuel Johnson. Known as the Hyde Edition, the project will be completed with the fourth volume, covering the years 1782 through 1784, and the fifth, containing the comprehensive index and appendices. The series as a whole will present fifty-two previously unknown letters or parts of letters that have come to light since the publication of R. W. Chapman's three-volume set (Oxford, 1952). Such "new" letters, however, are scarcely more important than those for which only inferior printed texts or copies of varying reliability had previously been recovered. The Hyde Edition offers scores of texts transcribed for the first time from the original documents--a feature of special importance in the case of Johnson's revealing letters to Hester Thrale, many of which have been available only in expurgated form. The Hyde Edition is also the first systematically to record substantive deletions, which can yield intimate knowledge of Johnson's stylistic procedures, mental habits, and chains of association. Furthermore, its ownership credits document the current disposition of the manuscripts, hundreds of which have changed hands during the last four decades. Finally, the annotation of the letters incorporates the many significant discoveries of postwar Johnsonian scholarship, as well as decoding references that had previously resisted explanation. The result is a far richer understanding of Samuel Johnson's life, work, and milieu. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. "These [volumes] have been edited with skill, acumen, and learning. Handsome in design, consistent and economical in procedures, respectful, this edition will come to replace that of R. W. Chapman forty years ago." ― The New Criterion The Letters of Samuel Johnson Volume I ? 1731–1772 By Samuel Johnson, BRUCE REDFORD PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1992 Princeton University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-691-06881-7 Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, vii, PREFACE, ix, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, xv, EDITORIAL PROCEDURES, xix, IMPORTANT EDITIONS OF JOHNSON'S LETTERS, xxiii, CHRONOLOGY, xxv, CUE TITLES AND ABBREVIATIONS, xxvii, LETTERS, 1731–1772, 3, INDEX, 419, CHAPTER 1 Gregory Hickman SATURDAY 30 OCTOBER 1731 MS: Hyde Collection. Sir: Lichfield, Oct. 30, 1731 I have so long neglected to return You thanks for the favours and Assistance I received from you at Stourbridge that I am afraid You have now done expecting it. I can indeed make no apology but by assuring You that this delay, whatever was the cause of it, proceeded neither from forgetfulness, disrespect, nor ingratitude; Time has not made the Sense of the Obligation less warm, nor the thanks I return less sincere. But while I am acknowledging one Favour I must beg another, that You would excuse the omon of the Verses You desired. Be pleas'd to consider that versifying against ones inclination is the most disagreable thing in the World, and that ones own disappointment is no inviting Subject, and that though the desire of gratifying You might have prevaild over my dislike of it, yet it proves upon reflection so barren that to attempt to write upon it, is to undertake to build without materials. As I am yet unemploy'd, I hope You will, if anything should offer, remember and recommend, Sir, Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON John Taylor THURSDAY 27 JULY 1732 MS: Hyde Collection. ADDRESS: To Mr. Taylor, Present. ENDORSEMENTS: 1732, 27 July 1732. Dear Sir: Lichfield, July 27, 1732 I received a Letter last Night from Mr. Corbett, who informs me of a Vacancy at Ashburne, I have no suspicion of any endeavours being wanting on Your Part to contribute to my success, and therefore do not