# Is "The Life of Samuel Johnson" by James Boswell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell (Charles Dilly, 1791) is identified by: London: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791; TWO VOLUMES, QUARTO (about 10 the printed price x 8 7/16 inches). The census claim is CORRECT: the London 1791 two-volume quarto (Baldwin for Dilly) is the true first and the collected form, and the first American edition is Boston, 1807 (W.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791
- TWO VOLUMES, QUARTO (about 10 the printed price x 8 7/16 inches)
- The census's headline point is CONFIRMED: the first issue reads "gve" for "give" at Volume I, page 135, line 10
- The mechanism is documented — the proof was correct, but when Boswell directed the removal of an exclamation point in the first line, the "i" dropped out and the compositor filled the line by spacing "gve us"; the error was caught and corrected in the press after a considerable part of the edition had been printed
- Consequence to state honestly: "gve" is the EARLIER state, but because it was a stop-press correction, both states occur within the first edition — a corrected copy is still a first edition, not a later one
- Further points: errata uncorrected; the cancels at Volume I pp
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Dilly

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Boswell |
| Publisher | Charles Dilly |
| Year | 1791 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
London: printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, in the Poultry, 1791; TWO VOLUMES, QUARTO (about 10 the printed price x 8 7/16 inches). The census's headline point is CONFIRMED: the first issue reads "gve" for "give" at Volume I, page 135, line 10. The mechanism is documented — the proof was correct, but when Boswell directed the removal of an exclamation point in the first line, the "i" dropped out and the compositor filled the line by spacing "gve us"; the error was caught and corrected in the press after a considerable part of the edition had been printed. Consequence to state honestly: "gve" is the EARLIER state, but because it was a stop-press correction, both states occur within the first edition — a corrected copy is still a first edition, not a later one. Further points: errata uncorrected; the cancels at Volume I pp. 271-2 and 273-4 (Mm and Nn) present, with stubs visible. Plates required: an engraved frontispiece portrait of Johnson by James Heath after Sir Joshua Reynolds in Volume I, and two engraved facsimile plates in Volume II — the "Round Robin" and "Fac Similes of Dr. Johnson's hand writing." No dust jacket exists for a 1791 quarto; identification is by imprint, the p. 135 state, cancels and plates. References: Courtney & Nichol Smith, pp. 172-3; Grolier English 65; Pottle 79; Rothschild 464; Tinker 338.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is CORRECT: the London 1791 two-volume quarto (Baldwin for Dilly) is the true first and the collected form, and the first American edition is Boston, 1807 (W. Andrews and L. Blake), in three octavo volumes — but the census undersells why the American is not a rival. The 1807 Boston edition was set from the FIFTH London edition, as revised and edited by Edmund Malone; it is a reprint of a later revised text, not an independent first, and it is the first edition of the work to carry an index. Since Boswell wrote in English and published in London, no UK/US or original-language precedence contest exists — London 1791 is first, full stop. One "first thus" trap worth naming: The Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition of Mr. Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson (Henry Baldwin for Charles Dilly, 1793) is a separate and exceptionally rare companion pamphlet, frequently bound in with the 1791 quartos; its presence is desirable but it is NOT part of the first edition, and a set is not "more first" for having it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition exists for a 1791 quarto. Documented reprint tells: (1) the second (1793) and later London editions, and above all Edmund Malone's revised editions from the third onward — these are octavo or smaller, in three or more volumes, and carry Malone's name; (2) the Boston 1807 first American, three octavo volumes, set from the fifth London edition and containing an index (the 1791 quarto has none); (3) the great 19th-century editorial recensions — Croker's and George Birkbeck Hill's — sold in multi-volume sets under Boswell's name but heavily annotated by later editors; (4) Everyman's Library, Oxford Standard Authors, Modern Library and Heritage Press/Limited Editions Club reprints, identifiable by publisher's cloth, modern paper and a 20th-century copyright notice. If the book is not a two-volume QUARTO with the 1791 Baldwin/Dilly imprint, it is not the first edition — and volume count alone (two vs. three or more) settles most donor triage on sight.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Life of Samuel Johnson* by James Boswell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-life-of-samuel-johnson
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.