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In 1773, James Boswell made a long-planned journey across the Scottish Highlands with his English friend Samuel Johnson; the two spent more than a hundred days together. Their tour of the Hebrides resulted in two books, A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), a kind of locodescriptive ethnography and Johnson's most important work between his Shakespeare edition and his Lives of the Poets. The other, Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson (1785), a travel narrative experimenting with biography, the first application of the techniques he would use in his Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).
These two works form a natural pair and, owing that they cover much of the same material, are often read together, focusing on the Scottish highlands.
The text presents a lightly-edited version of both works, preserving the original orthography and corrected typographical errors to fit modern grammar standards.
The introduction and notes provide clear and concise explanations on Johnson and Boswell's respective careers, their friendship and grand biographical projects. It also examines the Scottish Enlightenment, the status of England and Scotland during the Reformation through to the Union of the Crowns, and the Jacobite
List of contents
- Introduction
- Note on the Text
- A Note about Money
- Short Titles
- Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Samuel Johnson, A Journey to the Western Islands
- James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
- Explanatory Notes
- Monarchs of England, Scotland, and Great Britain
- Glossary
- Biographical Index
About the author
Jack Lynch is Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark. He is the author of The Age of Elizabeth in the Age of Johnson and Deception and Detection in Eighteenth-Century Britain, and editor of Samuel Johnson in Context and The Oxford Handbook of British Poetry, 1660-1800.
Celia B. Barnes is Associate Professor of English at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Her academic research focuses especially on the relationship between friendship and authorship in eighteenth-century letters, diaries, and other minor genres.
Summary
Johnson's Journey to the Western Islands and Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides form a natural pair for an OWC because both books, often read and taught alongside each other, focus on the Scottish highlands.
Additional text
This edition of Johnson's Journey and Boswell's Tour is executed with an editorial care that elevates it head and shoulders above most editions aimed,... Textually, it occupies a very high tier: its retention of italicized words is superior to the Yale edition's romanized type, and its annotative richness similarly outflanks the Yale effort ... Scholars and teachers not only will be pleased to assign this book to students but ought themselves to enjoy having a sound and conveniently sized volume that they can take on their own travels.
Report
This edition of Johnson's Journey and Boswell's Tour is executed with an editorial care that elevates it head and shoulders above most editions aimed,... Textually, it occupies a very high tier: its retention of italicized words is superior to the Yale edition's romanized type, and its annotative richness similarly outflanks the Yale effort ... Scholars and teachers not only will be pleased to assign this book to students but ought themselves to enjoy having a sound and conveniently sized volume that they can take on their own travels. A. W. Lee, 1650 - 1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era
