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Lot 434

BOSWELL (JAMES)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, 3 vol.

22 November 2011, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £875 inc. premium

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Footnotes

A presentation or ownership signature ("James Boswell/ London 1778") leaf signed and dated by Boswell has been tipped into a copy of the second edition of the Life, the title signed "John Caw". This seems likely to be the John Caw who was a rich timber-merchant and, with Boswell, a founder of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1780. He is the first of two friends that Boswell discusses with Johnson in the Life: 'I mentioned two friends who were particularly fond of looking at themselves in a glass' (Johnson replying that 'they see, reflected in that glass, men who have risen from the lowest situation in life; one to enormous riches, the other to... rank, fame, and fortune', the first being Caw, the second Lord Loughborough.

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