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What book did Samuel Johnson translate before moving to London?
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Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson, oil on canvas by Sir Joshua Reynolds, c. 1756; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Before moving to London in 1737, Samuel Johnson translated A Voyage to Abyssinia by the Portuguese Jesuit Jerome Lobo.1
Johnson dictated this translation to his friend Edmund Hector while living in Birmingham. The work, which recounts a Jesuit missionary expedition, was published in 1735 and is noted for its preface, in which Johnson praises Lobo for avoiding the presentation of exaggerated marvels.1