Samuel Johnson Collection, 1753-1916

Summary

Creators:

Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784.

Abstract:

This collection contains 21 letters and drawings related to or by English writer Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) that were previously bound together in one volume.

Extent:

22 items in 1 box

Language:

English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains 21 letters and drawings related to or by English writer Samuel Johnson that were previously bound together in one volume. Items include six letters by Samuel Johnson to various recipients: publisher Thomas Longman (HM 20824); Samuel Richardson (HM 20821); John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (HM 20825); Nathan Wetherell (HM 20826); and two letters to John Taylor (HM 20822, HM 20827), as well as an 1841 letter from Taylor (HM 20823) and notes by Johnson scholar George Birkbeck Hill (HM 40967) about the June 23, 1784, letter from Johnson to Taylor. There are also single letters from Alexander Johnson (HM 20828); William Seward (HM 20829); James Boswell to his daughter (HM 20830); Hester Lynch Piozzi (HM 20831); Sir Joshua Reynolds (HM 20832); and William Cowper (HM 20833) to various individuals (not Samuel Johnson).

There are also seven drawings and one 1916 newspaper clipping. The drawings include an unfinished drawing of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Samuel Johnson, and others (HM 40960), copies of portraits of Johnson, and images of locations related to Johnson.

Items were originally bound in a folio black straight-grained morocco binding that was disbound in 1975.

Biographical / historical:

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was an English lexicographer, writer, and critic.

Acquisition information:

Purchased from George D. Smith, April 1919.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in call number order in one box.

Rules or conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Authors, English -- 18th century -- Archives.
Authors, English -- 18th century -- Pictorial works.
Drawings -- Great Britain -- 18th century.
Drawings -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 18th century.

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

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