The General Correspondence of James Boswell, 1766-69: Vol 2: 1768-69

by James Boswell, Richard C. Cole (Editor), Peter S. Baker (Contributor)

This is the second and final volume of James Boswell's general correspondence for the years 1766 to 1769. The richly diverse collection includes the texts of letters between Boswell and 123 correspondents, beginning when Boswell was in the early years of his legal career in Edinburgh and closing shortly after his marriage to his penniless Ayrshire cousin, Margaret Montgomerie. The volume includes a comprehensive analytical index to both volumes of Boswell's general correspondence between 1766 and 1769.The correspondence touches on many topics and issues, some public, some private, including Boswell's patronage of struggling playwright William Julius Mickle; the publication and reception of Boswell's Account of Corsica and his efforts to rouse British interest in the Corsican cause; and the aftermath of Boswell's vigorous legal and journalistic involvement in the Douglas Cause. Letters to and from his European correspondents carry echoes of Boswell's recently completed Grand Tour and the closing moments of his epistolary affair with the francophone Dutch author, Belle de Zuylen (Zelide).

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

James Boswell, 10th Laird of Auchinleck and 1st Baronet 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. These included voluminous notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman and, subsequently, of his tour of Scotland with Johnson. His journals also record meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club, including Lord Monboddo, David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith. His written works focus chiefly on others, but he was admitted as a good companion and accomplished conversationalist in his own right.