Life of Samuel Johnson facts for kids
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| Author | James Boswell |
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| Original title | The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Samuel Johnson |
| Genre | Biography |
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Publication date
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1791 |
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791) is a famous book by James Boswell. It tells the life story of an important English writer, Dr. Samuel Johnson. This book was very popular right from the start. Many people think it changed how biographies are written.
A biography is a book that tells the true story of someone's life. Boswell's book is special because it includes many of Johnson's actual conversations. Some people say it's the best biography ever written in English.
Boswell first met Johnson in 1763. Johnson was 54 years old then. Boswell did a lot of research to cover Johnson's whole life, even the parts before they met. The book is a great source of information about Johnson and his time. It is also an important piece of literature.
Many people have written about Samuel Johnson. But James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson is the most famous. It is also the most widely read today. Since it was first published, it has been printed hundreds of times. Because it is very long, many shorter versions have also been made.
How the Book Came to Be
James Boswell was a 22-year-old from Scotland. He visited London and met Johnson on May 16, 1763. They met in a book shop owned by Johnson's friend, Tom Davies. They quickly became good friends.
For many years, they only met when Boswell visited London. Boswell was a lawyer in Scotland. From age 20, Boswell kept detailed journals. These journals recorded his daily experiences.
When these journals were published later, they filled eighteen books. Boswell used these detailed notes to write his book about Johnson's life. Johnson even joked about Boswell's note-taking. He wrote to a friend, "One would think the man had been hired to spy upon me."
Travels and Early Writings
Eleven years after their first meeting, Johnson visited Boswell in Scotland. This was on August 6, 1773. They started a trip to the western islands of Scotland. Johnson wrote about this trip in his 1775 book.
Boswell also wrote about their travels. His book was called The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. It was published in 1786, after Johnson had passed away. This Journal was like a practice run for Boswell's big biography.
The Journal was a success. After that, Boswell began working on the Life of Johnson. He used the "vast treasure" of conversations he had recorded. His goal was to show Johnson's "life in scenes."
Gathering Information for the Biography
Johnson was 53 when Boswell first met him. So, the last 20 years of Johnson's life make up most of the book. This is about four-fifths of the whole biography.
A literary expert named Donald Greene pointed out something interesting. Boswell could only have spent about 250 days with Johnson. This means Boswell had to get most of his information from other places. He either got it from Johnson himself or from other people who knew Johnson.
Before Boswell could publish his Life of Johnson, other friends of Johnson wrote their own books. These included biographies or collections of stories about Johnson. Some of these friends were John Hawkins, Hester Thrale, Frances Burney, and Hannah More.
The last version of the book that Boswell worked on was the third edition. It was published in 1799, after Boswell had passed away.
