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.

This is the most accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date collection of Johnson's letters ever published. Including over fifty new letters or parts of letters, scores of texts transcribed for the first time, and complete with extensive and illuminating annotation, this major literary event enormously deepens our understanding of Samuel Johnson, man of letters. Volumes IV and V are expected to follow in December 1993.

Excerpt from Letters of Samuel Johnson, LL. D, Vol. 1 of 2: Oct. 30, 1731-Dec. 21, 1776 Club, a set of men who, he maintained, were sufficient worthily to fill all the chairs of a University I. So far as we know he did not write a single letter to Edmund Burke he wrote more than 300 to the wife of a Southwark brewer. With such ardour did he keep up the correspondence that in nine weeks of the summer of 177 5 he wrote to her thirty times. Let us for once be thank ful for the old abuse of the franking system, by which these letters were carried free of postage. Had he had to pay the usual charge of fourpence on each he would, I fear have remembered, as he once bade Mrs. Thrale remember, that three groats make a shilling and he would have written far less frequently. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.