James's Fans (11)

James Boswell

Author profile

born

October 29, 1740 in Edinburgh, Scotland, The United Kingdom

died

May 19, 1795

gender

male

genre

Nonfiction, Biographies & Memoirs

About this author

edit data

James Boswell, 10th Laird of Auchinleck and 1st Baronet (October 29, 1740 - May 19, 1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, 8th Laird of Auchinleck and his wife Euphemia Erskine, Lady Auchinleck. Boswell's mother was a strict Calvinist, and he felt that his father was cold to him. Boswell, who is best known as Samuel Johnson’s biographer, inherited his father’s estate Auchinleck in Ayrshire. His name has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer.

Boswell is also known for the detailed and frank journals that he wrote for long periods of his life, which remained undiscovered until the 1920s...more

combine editions
Books by James Boswell

Average rating: 3.95 · 4,326 ratings · 323 reviews · 104 distinct works

	The Life of Samuel Johnson 3.88 avg rating — 748 ratings — published 1790 — 188 editions	My rating:
	Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 by James Boswell, Frederick A. Pottle (Editor), Peter Ackroyd (Foreword by) 3.71 avg rating — 179 ratings — published 1950 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides ... 3.77 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1785 — 35 editions	My rating:
	Meeting Dr. Johnson by James Boswell, Christopher Hibbert (Editor) 3.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1996	My rating:
	The Life of Samuel Johnson, vol 1 4.62 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 1851 — 36 editions	My rating:
	The Correspondence and Other Papers of James Boswell Relating to the Making of the Life of Johnson by James Boswell, Marshall Waingrow 4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2001 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Journal of a Tour to Corsica and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli 3.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2002 — 27 editions	My rating:
	Make Me an Offer and a Kid for Two Farthings 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1991	My rating:
	The Life of Samuel Johnson 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1791	My rating:
	The General Correspondence of James Boswell, 1757-1763 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2001 — 2 editions	My rating:

More books by James Boswell…

Quotes by James Boswell

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over. So in a series of acts of kindness there is, at last, one which makes the heart run over.”
― James Boswell

tags: frienship , heart , kindness

34 people liked it

“I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.”
― James Boswell

tags: tea

8 people liked it

“He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them.”
― James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson

4 people liked it

See all James Boswell's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Book Nook Cafe: The Book Salon ~ April - May	473	124	17 hours, 31 min ago
The History Book ...: * PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF ~	4891	2116	15 hours, 18 min ago