London Journal
1762-1763
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1762-1763, published 1950
- Language
- English
- Length
- Medium · 350 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendBoswell's London Journal, 1762-1763Yale University Press, 2004The Yale Boswell edition edited by Frederick Pottle, with an introduction by Gordon Turnbull; it is the only complete text.
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The diary a twenty-two-year-old Boswell kept from his arrival in London in November 1762 to his departure for Holland in August 1763. He tries and fails to get an army commission, pursues actresses and prostitutes, catches gonorrhoea, sees plays, and on 16 May 1763 meets Samuel Johnson in a bookshop. Written to be read by a friend and lost for a century and a half, it was found in the papers at Malahide Castle and published in 1950, becoming an unexpected bestseller.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns London Journal are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
