Britannica
Sources used in this answer
When was The Life of Samuel Johnson published?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson, oil on canvas by Sir Joshua Reynolds, c. 1756; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., written by James Boswell, was published in two volumes on May 16, 1791.12
Widely considered the greatest of English biographies, the work was the culmination of years of meticulous record-keeping by Boswell, who used a self-invented system of shorthand to document the conversations of Samuel Johnson during their 21-year friendship. Boswell later oversaw the publication of a second edition in 1793 and was working on a third at the time of his death in 1795.12