Samuel Johnson - the great cham - lexicographer
Biography
Birth: Sep 19, 1709 in Lichfield
Death: Dec 13, 1784 in London
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Painted ca. 1772 by Joshua ReynoldsCritic, poet, essayist, biographer and lexicographer. Born in Lichfield on Sept 18, 1709, he was the first son of Michael Johnson (1684-1731), bookseller, and Sarah Ford (1688?-1752?). He had a brother, Nathanael, who died in his 25th year. (LOJ)
The greatest biography in the English language is about Johnson, written, of course, by James Boswell. As most visitors to this site are probably already acquainted with Johnson, I won't spend to much time writing a mini-bio about him - Boswell's Life of Johnson is available on the net and is a must-read. For now, please follow one of the links recommended below for further information on Johnson.
Life with James Boswell
The first mention of Dr. Johnson in James Boswell's writings is in his journal entry of September 21, 1762 - he writes that he finds Dr. Johnson "a man of much philosophy, extensive reading, and real knowledge". At this time they hadn't met, of course, but Dr. Johnson was so great a personality than one would expect his name to appear frequently in literary discussions.
Boswell had wanted to meet Johnson as early as 1760, during his first visit to London, and Samuel Derrick promised to introduce him to the Doctor. Derrick, however, didn't keep his promise. When Boswell next came to London in Nov 1762 he was hoping that Thomas Sheridan could introduce him, but the former friends Sheridan and Johnson had had a fall-out. On Christmas Day 1762 he went to Thomas Davies' bookshop in the hope of meeting Johnson, but had to be content with meeting Oliver Goldsmith and Robert Dodsley instead.
On May 16th, 1763 they finally met at Davies' bookshop, but this time by pure coincidence; somewhat ironic considering Boswell's former attempts to get an introduction to the great Johnson. Their first meeting didn't seem too promising as Johnson first insulted Boswell for being Scottish, and secondly reprimanded him for making a comment about David Garrick on the grounds that "I have known David Garrick longer than you have done, and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject". (Life of Johnson, and LJ, p. 260n3) Afterwards, however, Davies assured Boswell that Johnson had actually rather enjoyed the meeting and taken an inital liking to the young Scotsman.
[This particular entry will be much expanded, but the expansion will follow the general chronological progress of this site]
Recommended literature
A lot of litterature by or about Johnson is available via the AbeBooks used books search engine, Questia Online Library, and Amazon. You can try making general searches for author names Samuel Johnson, Dr. Johnson or Hester Piozzi, or more specific searches for his Rambler, Rasselas, Lives of the Poets, etc.
Hester Thrale Piozzi's Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson is available as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg (Link), as are Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson and his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson (Link).
Related links
Mentioned in
Samuel Johnson is mentioned in:
