Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 [Paperback]

James Boswell (Author), Frederick A. Pottle (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Yale Editions of the Private Papers Jame | Publication Date: May 10, 2004

In 1762 James Boswell, then twenty-two years old, left Edinburgh for London. The famous Journal he kept during the next nine months is an intimate account of his encounters with the high-life and the low-life in London. Frank and confessional as a personal portrait of the young Boswell, the Journal is also revealing as a vivid portrayal of life in eighteenth-century London. This new edition includes an introduction by Peter Ackroyd, which discusses Boswell's life and achievement.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Boswell was the most charming companion in the world, and London becomes his dining-room and his playground, his club and his confessional. No celebrant of the London world can ignore his book."-Peter Ackroyd, from the introduction; Praise for the earlier edition: "The journal is admirably edited and annotated."-W. H. Auden, New Yorker

About the Author

The late Frederick Pottle, Sterling Professor of English Emeritus at Yale University, was editor, bibliographer, and biographer of James Boswell. Peter Ackroyd is the author of London: The Biography, The Life of Thomas More, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, and many other books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (May 10, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300093012
• ISBN-13: 978-0300093018
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Reference & Collections

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure delight, February 18, 2002

By 

Mark Snegg (Boone, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 (Paperback)

To anyone who, like myself, has found a real and deep enjoyment in reading the Life of Johnson, I can only recommend Boswell's own diaries. The first volume - his 'London Journal' starting in the year he met Johnson - is pure delight. Boswell always saw himself as a character acting in the drama of life, and he could be almost excruciatingly honest and objective about himself. His voluminous diaries record all the trivia, triumphs, and despairs of his own life, day by day and year by year.

My own opinion is that Boswell is a far better diarist than Pepys, though not nearly as well known in this respect. There is a fascination about seeing his whole life recorded from youth to shortly before his death, with all the same force and liveliness that went into his Life of Johnson. His inner life is at least as entertaining as his outer life. He seems totally determined to write about himself as he wrote about Johnson - warts and all.

It's this courage and honesty about himself that makes us respect Boswell even when he is at his most foolish or debauched. The diaries make it extremely clear that he was no idiot, and that the Life of Johnson was no fortuitous masterpiece. From his diaries he comes across as a deeply sensitive, romantic, self-conscious man. Charming, likeable, and often playing the clown to his acquaintances; but often filled with self-doubt, frustration, insecurity, and a deep depression that he concealed from all except his closest friends.

We see Boswell puffed up with vanity at some silly social success, and the same Boswell quietly devoting large amounts of time and money that he could ill spare to helping people in trouble. We see Boswell in love again and again with totally unsuitable women, and eventually marrying the cousin who had always been a good, close friend rather than an object of wild romance. We see Boswell in his vibrant youth, and his tragic final years, as an alcoholic filled with bitter shame and despair, yet unable to reform.

His diaries are certainly one of the great undiscovered treasures of literature. They deserve to be a lot better known than they are.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why is the rest out of print?, November 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 (Paperback)

Here's a Boswell diary entry. 'Good heavens, what a loose did we give to amorous dalliance! ...In a moment I felt myself animated with the strongest power of love, and, from my dearest creature's kindness, had a most luscious feast. Proud of my godlike vigour, I soon resumed the noble game. I was in full glow of health. Sobriety had preserved me from effeminacy and weakness, and my bounding blood beat quick and high alarms. A more voluptuous night I never enjoyed. Five times I was fairly lost in supreme rapture... Louisa had an exquisite mixture of delicacy and wantonness that made me enjoy her with more relish. Indeed I could not help roving in fancy to the embraces of some other ladies which my lively imagination strongly pictured. I don't know if that was altogether fair... I have painted this night as well as I could. The description is faint; but I surely may be styled a Man of Pleasure.' (12 January 1763) Indeed. Get hold of this book immediately.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, March 30, 2005

By 

Sindhu Hirani Blume (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 (Paperback)

I read this book to prepare for a trip to London a few months ago and loved it! What an honest journal that sums up the wonderful daily life of a prolific man. There are no big ideas or revelations but I got so much out of each and every detail Boswell offered. Extremely insightful and engrossing!