The books to which Samuel Johnson subscribed are worth identifying,
both because they depict his range of associations and because they may be
presumed to have been at some time on his shelves and formed part of his
reading. Some can be recognized from the catalogue of the sale of his
books at Christie's, 18 February 1785. Several of the actual copies are
known to have survived;[1] some of
these are already mentioned in J. D. Fleeman, A Preliminary
Handlist
of Copies of Books associated with Dr. Samuel Johnson (Oxford
Bibliographical Society, Occasional Publications no. 17, 1984).[2]
The following list is an attempt to bring together the titles which
include Johnson's name among their subscribers. This task was first
attempted by Iolo A. Williams in his Points in Eighteenth-Century
Verse (1934), 111-113. A slightly fuller list was offered by Donald
D. Eddy, J. D. Fleeman, and W. R. Keast in the Johnsonian News
Letter, 25.4 (Dec. 1965), 2-3, and again in the New
Cambridge
Bibliography of English Literature, ii (1971), col. 1150. Further
additions were proposed by R. H. Lonsdale, 'Johnson as Subscriber: some
Additions', Notes & Queries, 225 (Oct. 1980), 410-412,
and
by the late H. B. Forster, Notes & Queries, 228 (Feb.
1983),
54-55.
The chronological appendix that follows the main listing by author
reveals that Johnson subscribed to eleven books in the 1750s, fourteen in
the 1760s, eighteen in the 1770s, and, although he died in 1784, seventeen
books in the 1780s. The most active period by far involved twenty books
from 1772 to 1782. The earliest volume to which he subscribed is Brooke's
Gustavus Vasa of 1739 (10). We list the Palladio, of 1738
(46),
merely because of its proximity in time; because of the subject matter we
have little faith in the attribution. We omit entirely such earlier works as
John Oldmixon's History of England during the reigns of the Royal
House of Stuart . . . (London, 1730; copies at NIC, Goldberg). The
name of 'Mr. Samuel Johnson' is among
the subscribers, but we do not believe that our Samuel Johnson, virtually
penniless at the age of twenty-one, subscribed to the book.
Apparently as Johnson's fame and reputation increased, he was
solicited more frequently for subscriptions; and as his personal finances
improved, he was able to subscribe more often. The final three books in the
list were published after his death, yet there is every indication that these
were genuine subscriptions by Johnson.
The form in which Johnson's name is recorded in the subscription
lists is not always unequivocal: 'Mr. Johnson' requires stronger supporting
evidence than does 'Samuel Johnson, LL.D.', but in a preliminary list such
as this there is not always room for debate. At this early stage we have
preferred to be inclusive, and there are doubtless several items here which
will eventually be discarded or degraded. Corroboration of an identification
must derive from some association with the names of Johnson's known
acquaintances, yet of those there is no complete list. Johnson's letter of (?)
December 1753 (Letters 49.1) and the progress of the
subscription for his own edition of Shakespeare show that it was usual to
enlist the aid of friends.[3] The notes
of Dr Lonsdale and of Mr Forster supply further arguments. We are
indebted to both of them for their generous communication of several
discoveries.
The main entries and dates are those listed in the Eighteenth-Century
Short Title Catalogue (ESTC). Four other categories usually follow: the
form of Johnson's name that appears in the subscription list, notes chiefly
about other subscribers, published references to the book or to Johnson's
connection with it, and the copies on which the record is based. A full
listing of copies presents some difficulties, for with few exceptions the
following titles are not scarce (ESTC sometimes reports fifty or more
locations). It seems unnecessary to record all of these since ESTC is now
widely available on microfiche, in an on-line database through RLIN
terminals, and on CDROM. Furthermore, because each verified entry in
ESTC supplies a call-number or shelf-mark, we have also omitted these
from the list.
Locations recorded here make no pretensions to a census, and they
are verified either by ESTC or by the personal inspection of the compilers.
The three libraries best known to us are the Bodleian, Cornell, and the
National Library of Scotland. We are grateful to Mrs. Charlotte A.
Stewart-Murphy for keeping us abreast of the fine holdings in McMaster
University Library, in Hamilton, Ontario. We are also indebted to many
friends, booksellers, librarians, and collectors, preeminent among whom is
Herman W. Liebert, whose distinguished collection until its recent dispersal
made a prominent showing in this list, and whose unerring instinct for a
Johnsonian item has contributed greatly to our compilation. There are few
items here which he did not at some time own, and fewer which he did not
know. His inexhaustible enthusiasm and assistance deserve particular
thanks.
