view larger

Member: JamesBoswell

CollectionsYour library (2,933), 1825 Auction Catalogue (2,819), Hyde Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard (119), 1893 Auchinleck Sale (2), All collections (2,933)

Reviews154 reviews

TagsPoetry (311), English poetry (150), Drama (115), Biography (111), English drama (95), Law (94), Shakespeare (92), Literary criticism (88), Christian theology (68), History (66) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

Groups18th Century British Literature, Auchinleck, Crambo!, The Turk's Head

About meI am the author of what is called by many, "the greatest biography written in English." I am referring, of course, to Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.

If I may say so myself, Chauncey Brewer Tinker wrote a pretty good biography of me, as did Frederick A. Pottle.

Mary Hyde, bless her heart, wrote The Impossible Friendship: Boswell and Mrs. Thrale. Hester and I were both friends of Samuel Johnson, but we just didn't see eye to eye.

Here is a list of books by and about me.

There are two excellent websites about me: David Frandzen's website. and Ed Schaeffer's website. Ed's website was with Geocities and is no longer online, but can still be veiwed via The Wayback Machine.

In his book, History of the County of Ayr, James Patterson provides a history of my family. When you click on to the upcoming link to Patterson's book, please scroll up to the bottom of the previous page where the history of The Boswells of Auchinleck begins.

About my libraryDr. Johnson advised me to-day, to have as may books about me as I could; that I might read upon any subject upon which I had a desire for instruction at the time. "What you read then (said he) you will remember; but if you have not a book ready, and the subject moulds in your mind, it is a chance if you again have a desire to study it." (Life III 193)

Donald R. Eddy included the above paragraph in his introduction to the sale catalogue of my library published by Oak Knoll Books. In 1993, Oak Knoll published this catalog along with those of Samuel Johnson and Mrs. Piozzi. There are at least eleven copies of the original 1825 sale catalog, one of which is owned by Oak Knoll Books.

Surround myself with books, I did. It took Sotheby's ten days to sell the books listed in the 1825 catalogue, beginning on Tuesday, May 24th, 1825 and ending on Friday, June 3rd, 1825. LT cataloguers have been cataloguing my library since October 2008.

My library included not only my own books, but the books of my sons, James Boswell the Younger and Sir Alexander Boswell. Moreover, I inherited many of the rare books in my library from my father, Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck. About ten percent of the over 3000 books listed in the 1825 auction catalog were published after I left this earth in 1795. One cannot assume, however, that all the books published before 1795 belonged to me. My son, James, was a good friend of Edmond Malone, and acquired some of his books after Malone's death in 1812. Likewise, one cannot assume that all the books published after 1795 belonged to James Boswell the Younger. My other son, Alexander, who, sadly, was shot in a duel and died in March of 1822 had some books in our library as well, mostly the books he privately printed.

In addition, another 782 items unrecorded in the 1825 catalogue, were later sold at an Auchinleck Sale in 1893. Copies of that auction catalogue are hard to be had. But books identified as having been acquired at the Auchinleck Sale will be included in this Library Thing catalogue.

Whenever possible, Library Thing cataloguers will include the names of the original purchasers in the Comments Section. If the LT cataloguers can't read the names, they will enter purchaser's name unreadable. Additionally, there were lots where the purchaser's name was not recorded at the time of the auction, either because the auction recorder didn't get the information, or because the article went missing between the time the catalog was prepared and the time the auction was conducted. These articles will be identified by the phrases, Purchasing information not recorded, or Purchaser's name unrecorded in the Comments Section.

Personal correspondence and paintings were also sold at the auction, but will not be included in the Library Thing catalog.

Unless otherwise noted, the editions identified in the Library Thing listings are the editions identified in the 1825 auction catalog.

If you'd like to help catalog this library please leave a comment here or contact moibibliomaniac@gmail.com

Homepagehttp://JamesBoswell.info

Real nameJames Boswell

LocationEngland and Scotland

Favorite authorsNone

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/JamesBoswell (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/JamesBoswell (library)

Common KnowledgeSeries (24), Awards (20), Characters (433), Places (79)

Member sinceOct 2, 2008