JOHNSON, Samuel]. The Rambler . London: J. Payne and J. J. Bouquet, 1751 [but March 20 1750-March 17 1752]. 2 volumes, 2 o (292 x 175 mm). Woodcut vignette on titles, woodcut head-piece and opening initial to each number. (Some occational minor marginal flaws.) Contemporary half sheep and comb-marbled boards, spines with black morocco lettering-piece and directly-tooled volume number, red speckled edges (joints cracked, some wear to extremities); quarter-morocco solander boxes. Provenance : contemporary manuscript correction to the lines from Horace at the start of no. 94 -- R. Boyne (signature on title) -- R t . Ainslie (early signature on front pastedown of both volumes) -- purchased from Scribner Rare Books, New York, 6 October 1969. ORIGINAL ISSUES, except for reprint of no. 1; no. 109 in second, corrected state; with the earlier 1751 titles. Johnson's first periodical was printed by Edward Cave and issued every Tuesday and Saturday for a two-year period; the 208 numbers, consisting of a sheet and a half, sold at 2 d . each. No. 1 was reprinted at the same time as the printing of no. 118 (4 May 1751). There were a few outside contributions, including no. 97 by Samuel Richardson. But the venture was entirely Johnson's, and despite slow initial sales a "tenth" edition had been reached before his death. For all his tendency to procrastinate, Johnson kept his deadlines. No. 134 actually took idleness and procrastination as its theme, and according to Mrs Thrale was "hastily composed in Sir Joshua Reynolds' parlour, while the boy waited to carry it to the press." W. Jackson Bate suggests that both the Rambler and Rasselas are "an extended prose application" of themes in the Vanity of Human Wishes . If the most formative influence on the Rambler was Francis Bacon the range of literature Johnson drew on was enormous, extending from Greek aphorists and Ecclesiastes, through Renaissance humanists, to the entire English literature of the 17th century. Only Johnson could have so successfully combined the 18th-century periodical form with the 17th-century sermon, or have expressed such a deeply pessimistic outlook with such a "tonic effect" on his readers. Bate Samuel Johnson , New York, 1977, pp. 289-98; Courtney and Smith p. 25; Chapman and Hazen p. 131; Fleeman 50.3R/1a; Rothschild 1234; Tinker 1306. (2)
JOHNSON, Samuel]. The Rambler . London: J. Payne and J. J. Bouquet, 1751 [but March 20 1750-March 17 1752]. 2 volumes, 2 o (292 x 175 mm). Woodcut vignette on titles, woodcut head-piece and opening initial to each number. (Some occational minor marginal flaws.) Contemporary half sheep and comb-marbled boards, spines with black morocco lettering-piece and directly-tooled volume number, red speckled edges (joints cracked, some wear to extremities); quarter-morocco solander boxes. Provenance : contemporary manuscript correction to the lines from Horace at the start of no. 94 -- R. Boyne (signature on title) -- R t . Ainslie (early signature on front pastedown of both volumes) -- purchased from Scribner Rare Books, New York, 6 October 1969. ORIGINAL ISSUES, except for reprint of no. 1; no. 109 in second, corrected state; with the earlier 1751 titles. Johnson's first periodical was printed by Edward Cave and issued every Tuesday and Saturday for a two-year period; the 208 numbers, consisting of a sheet and a half, sold at 2 d . each. No. 1 was reprinted at the same time as the printing of no. 118 (4 May 1751). There were a few outside contributions, including no. 97 by Samuel Richardson. But the venture was entirely Johnson's, and despite slow initial sales a "tenth" edition had been reached before his death. For all his tendency to procrastinate, Johnson kept his deadlines. No. 134 actually took idleness and procrastination as its theme, and according to Mrs Thrale was "hastily composed in Sir Joshua Reynolds' parlour, while the boy waited to carry it to the press." W. Jackson Bate suggests that both the Rambler and Rasselas are "an extended prose application" of themes in the Vanity of Human Wishes . If the most formative influence on the Rambler was Francis Bacon the range of literature Johnson drew on was enormous, extending from Greek aphorists and Ecclesiastes, through Renaissance humanists, to the entire English literature of the 17th century. Only Johnson could have so successfully combined the 18th-century periodical form with the 17th-century sermon, or have expressed such a deeply pessimistic outlook with such a "tonic effect" on his readers. Bate Samuel Johnson , New York, 1977, pp. 289-98; Courtney and Smith p. 25; Chapman and Hazen p. 131; Fleeman 50.3R/1a; Rothschild 1234; Tinker 1306. (2)
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