The Essential Boswell
Martin, Peter. Editor
£11.95
The Essential Boswell: Selections from the Writings of James Boswell. Edited by Peter Martin.
Hardback with dustjacket. Published by Weidenfield & Nicolson, London, 2003. Approx size: 24cm H x 16.5cm W (9.5" H x 6.5" W). 422pp.
"We may think of James Boswell first as the author of the monumental Life of Samuel Johnson, still regarded by many as the greatest biography ever written, or as the scribbling sidekick of the Great Cham of the age, the clubbable Londoner who had a knack for remembering conversations.
Peter Martin has now made an anthology of Boswell's writing that reminds us that his talents extended far beyond being Samuel Johnson's amanuensis.
Here in addition to material about Johnson and their celebrated tour to the Hebrides is the lesser known An Account of Corsica, his audacious visit to meet the fabled rebel leader Pasquale Paoli. In modern parlance it was an international bestseller of its day.
Martin's astute selection, as in all the best anthologies, will undoubtedly lead the reader to Boswell's work, showing that, as Boswell said of himself: 'I am a composition of an infinite variety of ingredients'.
Book condition: Brand new.