The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
Together with his Life, and Notes on his Lives of the Poets

This collected edition of Samuel Johnson's writings was published by his literary executor, the musicologist Sir John Hawkins, in 1787.

Samuel Johnson (Author), John Hawkins (Edited by)

9781108031813, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

534 pages
21.6 x 14 x 3 cm, 0.67 kg

Dr Samuel Johnson (1709–84) is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of English literature, as a poet, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. This collected edition of his works - commissioned by the publisher within hours of Johnson's death, such was his celebrity - was published in 1787 in eleven volumes, edited by his literary executor, the musicologist Sir John Hawkins. Volume 11 contains poetry in English and Latin, prayers, and a variety of literary forms - a fantasy, The Vision of Theodore, Johnson's only play, Irene, Rasselas, which uses an oriental tale and a French form to meditate on the folly of the quest for human happiness, and The Vanity of Human Wishes, based on one of Juvenal's satires. There is also an index to the eleven-volume set.

Tales and Visions: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abisinnia
The Vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe, found in his cell
The Apotheosis of Milton, a vision
Prayers and devotional exercises
Apophthegms, sentiments, opinions, and occasional reflections
Irene, a tragedy
Poems: London
The Vanity of Human Wishes
Miscellaneous poems
Poemata
Index to the works.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]