The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol 18: Johnson on the English Language (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel) [Hardcover]

Samuel Johnson (Author), Gwin J. Kolb (Editor), Professor Robert DeMaria Jr. (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300106726 | ISBN-13: 978-0300106725 | Publication Date: November 22, 2005 | Edition: annotated edition

This volume collects the most important statements on the English language by Samuel Johnson, one of its greatest expositors and speakers. The book includes scholarly, fully annotated editions of Johnson’s main writings on the history, structure, and cultural importance of the English language as well as his reflections on lexicography. These texts represent Johnson’s thinking as he undertook and completed the major work of his life, the colossal Dictionary of the English Language.
The editors set Johnson’s writings on the English language in historical context and provide the fullest possible account of their composition. Among the works presented in the volume are Johnson’s Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language and the Preface to the Dictionary, both of which are counted among his finest works of prose.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Thanks . . . to the consummate and consummating editors of Johnson on the English Language: Gwin J. Kolb and Robert DeMaria, Jr. Their cooperation-with one another and with Johnson-is magnificent. Their erudition is immense and yet measured, deep and yet crystalline."-Christopher Ricks, New Criterion (Christopher Ricks New Criterion )

About the Author

Gwin J. Kolb is Chester D. Tripp Professor Emeritus in Humanities, University of Chicago. Robert DeMaria, Jr., is Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English at Vassar College.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; annotated edition edition (November 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300106726
• ISBN-13: 978-0300106725
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "the sovereignty of words", July 3, 2006

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Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Works of Samuel Johnson, Vol 18: Johnson on the English Language (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel) (Hardcover)

While dearly priced, this book is a wonderful addition to the library of every serious student of the English language.

Professors Kolb and DeMaria are fully up to the daunting task of editing the works of such a master of English as was Johnson.

I do quarrel with the editors' decision to use the original French, without translation, in several footnotes, as I --- and I suspect as many others in our country who are keenly interested in Johnson -- do not read that language. As SJ himself said, "...few ideas would be lost to mankind, for want of English words, in which they might be expressed."