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Works of Samuel Johnson
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Table of Contents
  • Audiet Pugnas vitio Parentum / Rara Juventus. Hor: Young men—the few who are left after the crimes of their fathers—will hear of battles. [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Bonae leges ex malis moribus proveniunt: Good laws spring from bad habits [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Malos tueri haud tutum: Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Quis enim virtutem amplectitur ipsam Praemia si tollas?: For who embraces virtue herself, if you take away the reward? [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Adjecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae: Kind Athens Added a Little More Skill [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Mea nec Falernae Temperant Vites, neque Formiani Pocula Colles: Neither Falernian vines nor Formian hills mellow my cups [School and College Latin Exercises]
  • Scheme for the Classes of a Grammar School
  • Advertisement for the School at Edial
  • Observations on Common Sense
  • Preface to the 1738 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Letter to the Gentleman's Magazine on Political Journalism
  • Appeal to the Publick
  • To the Reader. [Gentleman’s Magazine]
  • Considerations on the case of Dr T.—s Sermons abridg’d by Mr Cave
  • The Jests of Hierocles
  • Preface to the 1741 Volume of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Review of An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Two First Volumes of Bibliotheca Harleiana
  • An Account of the Harleian Library
  • Notice in Volume Two of Catalogus Bibliothecae Harleianae
  • Proposals for Printing, by Subscription, the Harleian Miscellany with An Account of this Undertaking
  • Introduction to the Harleian Miscellany: An Essay on the Origin and Importance of Small Tracts and Fugitive Pieces
  • Preface to the 1742 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • Dedication for Robert James's Medicinal Dictionary
  • Preface to the 1743 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • PROPOSALS For Printing every Fortnight, (Price Sixpence) THE PUBLISHER: CONTAINING MISCELLANIES In PROSE and VERSE. Collected by J. CROKATT, Bookseller.
  • Proposals for Printing Anchitell Grey's Debates
  • Some Remarks on the Progress of Learning Since the Reformation
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription Hugonis Grotii Adamus Exul
  • Postscript to Lauder’s Essay on Milton’s Use and Imitation of the Moderns
  • A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Douglas
  • Preface to The Preceptor
  • The signification of WORDS how varied
  • Letter Concerning the Benefit Performance of Comus for Milton's Granddaughter
  • Proposals for printing by subscription, Essays in Verse and Prose.
  • Notice of The life of Harriot Stuart
  • Dedication to The Female Quixote
  • Dedication to Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully
  • Dedication to Philander
  • Dedication to The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy
  • Dedication to Henrietta, 2nd Ed.
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription The Original Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox
  • Letter to the Daily Advertiser concerning James Crokatt
  • Preface to A General Index of the First Twenty Volumes of the Gentleman's Magazine
  • Preface to the 1753 Volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine
  • An Account of an Attempt to Ascertain the Longitude by Sea, by an Exact Theory of the Variation of the Magnetical Needle
  • Dedication and Preface to An Introduction to the Game of Draughts (1756)
  • Dedication to An Introduction to Geometry (1767)
  • Preface to Richard Rolt, A New Dictionary of Trade and Commerce
  • Reflections on the Present State of Literature
  • TO THE PUBLIC
  • Review of John Armstrong, The History of the Island of Minorca (1756)
  • Review of Stephen White, Collateral Bee-Boxes (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Birch, The History of the Royal Society, vols. 1–2 (1756)
  • Review of Arthur Murphy, The Gray’s-Inn Journal, 2 vols. (1756)
  • Review of Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (1756)
  • Review of James Hampton, The General History of Polybius (1756)
  • Review of Thomas Blackwell, Memoirs of the Court of Augustus (1753–56)
  • Review of Alexander Russell, The Natural History of Aleppo (1756)
  • Review of Four Letters from Newton to Bentley (1756)
  • Review of William Borlase, Observations on the Islands of Scilly (1756)
  • Review of Archibald Bower, Affidavit (1756); John Douglas, Six Letters and Review of Mr. Bower’s Answer (1757); and John Douglas, Bower and Tillemont Compared (1757)
  • Review of Francis Home, Experiments on Bleaching (1756)
  • Review of Stephen Hales, An Account of a Useful Discovery (1756)
  • Review of Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters (1756)
  • Review of Robert Keith, A Large New Catalogue of the Bishops (1756)
  • Review of Patrick Browne, The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica (1756)
  • Review of Charles Parkin, An Impartial Account of the Invasion under William Duke of Normandy (1756)
  • Review of A Scheme for Preventing a Further Increase of the National Debt (1756)
  • Review of Conferences and Treaties (1756)
  • Review of Philosophical Transactions (1756)
  • Review of Richard Lovett, The Subtil Medium Prov’d (1756)
  • Review of Benjamin Hoadley and Benjamin Wilson, Observations on a Series of Electrical Experiments (1756)
  • Review of Johann Georg Keyssler, Travels (1756)
  • Review of Elizabeth Harrison, Miscellanies (1756)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey (1757)
  • Review of Jonas Hanway, A Journal of Eight Days Journey, Second Edition (1757)
  • Reply to a Letter from Jonas Hanway in the Gazetteer (1757)
  • Review of Samuel Bever, The Cadet (1756)
  • Review of the Test and Con-Test (1756)
  • Review of William Whitehead, Elegies (1757)
  • Review of A Letter to a Gentleman in the Country on the Death of Admiral Byng (1757)
  • Preliminary Discourse in the London Chronicle
  • Advertisement for Francis Barber in the Daily Advertiser
  • "Dedication to John Lindsay, Evangelical History of Our Lord Jesus Christ Harmonized
  • Introduction to the Universal Chronicle (1758)
  • Of the Duty of a Journalist (1758)
  • Advertisement Against Unauthorized Reprints of the Idler (1759)
  • Advertisement for the Public Ledger in the Universal Chronicle (1760)
  • To The Public in the Public Ledger (1760)
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number I [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number II [Public Ledger]
  • The Weekly Correspondent Number III [Public Ledger]
  • Preface to J. Elmer, Tables of Weights and Prices
  • From The Italian Library Containing an Account of the Lives and Works of the most valuable authors of Italy (1757)
  • Proposals for Printing by Subscription, Le Poesie di Giuseppe Baretti (1758)
  • Dedication to A Dictionary of the English and Italian Languages (1760)
  • Preface to Easy Phraseology, for the Use of Young Ladies Who Intend to Learn the Colloquial Part of the Italian Language (1775)
  • Advertisement [For The World Displayed]
  • Introduction (1759) [From The World Displayed]
  • Advertisement for Pilgrim's Progress
  • Letter I. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter II. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter III. [Daily Gazetteer]
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (26 February 1760)
  • Letter to the Society of Arts (8 December 1760)
  • Address of the Painter’s, Sculptors, &Architects to George III (1761)
  • Preface to A Catalogue of the Pictures, Sculptures, Models, Drawings, Prints, &c Exhibited by the Society of Artists of Great-Britain at the Great Room in Spring Gardens Charing Cross May the 17th Anno 1762 Being the Third year of their Exhibition (1762)
  • Review of William Tytler, Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Evidence Produced … Against Mary Queen of Scots
  • Contributions to John Kennedy, A Complete System of Astronomical Chronology, Unfolding the Scriptures
  • Proposals and Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1762)
  • Advertisement [for Anna Williams, Miscellanies in Prose and Verse] (1766)
  • Dedication to Jerusalem Delivered (1763)
  • Dedication to The Works of Metastasio (1767)
  • Dedication to Cyrus: A Tragedy (1768)
  • Review of Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller
  • Dedication for Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
  • 23 Sept. 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1–4 Oct. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 20 Nov. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 19 Dec. 1765. [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 24 December 1765 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 3 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 8 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 14 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 23 March 1768 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 March 1769 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 1 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 13 October 1774 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 4 September 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • 5 Sept. 1780 [Political Writing for Henry Thrale]
  • Dedication for George Adams, A Treatise Describing and Explaining the Construction and Use of New Celestial and Terrestrial Globes
  • Dedication to John Gwynn, London and Westminster Improved
  • Preface to Alexander MacBean, A Dictionary of Ancient Geography
  • Meditation on a Pudding
  • Hereford Infirmary Appeal
  • Dedication for A General History of Music (1776)
  • From A General History of Music, Vol. II (1782)
  • Dedication to An Account of the Musical Performance . . . in Commemoration of Handel (1785)
  • Advertisement for the Spectator
  • Dedication to Zachary Pearce, A Commentary, with Notes, on the Four Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles
  • Letter of 16 May 1777
  • The Petition of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council Assembled, Friday 6 June 1777
  • Letter to Lord Bathurst, the Lord Chancellor, 8 June 1777
  • Letter to William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, Wednesday, 11 June 1777
  • Petition of Mrs. Mary Dodd to the Queen
  • Dodd’s Letter to the King, Sunday, 22 June 1777
  • Petition of William Dodd to the King, Monday, 23 June 1777
  • Dodd’s Last Solemn Declaration, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Johnson’s Observations on the Propriety of Pardoning William Dodd, Wednesday, 25 June 1777
  • Introduction and Conclusion to Occasional Papers (1777)
  • Proposal for Printing William Shaw, An Analysis of the Scotch Celtic Language
  • Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Seven Discourses
  • Preface to Thomas Maurice, Oedipus Tyrannus
  • The Case of Collier v. Flint
  • Translation of Sallust, De Bello Catilinario
  • General Rules of the Essex Head Club
  • On the Character and Duty of an Academick
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© 2023
An Account of the Harleian Library
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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand

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An Account of the Harleian Library
To solicit a subscription for a catalogue of books exposed to sale, is an attempt for which some apology cannot but be necessary, for few would willingly contribute to the expence of volumes, by which neither instruction nor entertainment could be afforded, from which only the bookseller could expect advantage, and of which the only use must cease, at the dispersion of the library.2
Nor could the reasonableness of an universal rejection of our proposal be denied, if this catalogue were to be compiled with no other view, than that of promoting the sale of the books which it enumerates, and drawn up with that inaccuracy and confusion which may be found in those that are daily published.
But our design, like our proposal, is uncommon, and to be prosecuted at a very uncommon expence, it being intended, that the books shall be distributed into their distinct classes,


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and every class ranged with some regard to the age of the writers; that every book shall be accurately described; that the peculiarities of editions shall be remarked, and observations from the authors of literary history3 occasionally interspersed, that, by this catalogue, we may inform posterity, of the excellence and value of this great collection, and promote the knowledge of scarce books, and elegant editions.4 For this purpose, men of letters are engaged,5 who cannot even be supplied with amanuenses, but at an expence above that of a common catalogue.
To shew that this collection deserves a particular degree of regard from the learned and the studious, that it excels any library that was ever yet offered to public sale, in the value as well as number of the volumes which it contains, and that therefore this catalogue will not be of less use to men of letters, than those of the Thuanian, Heinsian, or Barberinian libraries, it may not be improper to exhibit a general account of the different classes as they are naturally divided by the several sciences.6
By this method we can indeed exhibit only a general idea, at once, magnificent and confused; an idea of the writings of many nations, collected from distant parts of the world, discovered sometimes by chance, and sometimes by curiosity, amidst the rubbish of forsaken monasteries, and the repositories of ancient families, and brought hither from every part, as to the universal receptacle of learning.


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It will be no unpleasing effect of this account, if those, that shall happen to peruse it, should be inclined by it, to reflect on the character of the late proprietors, and to pay some tribute of veneration to their ardor for literature, to that generous and exalted curiosity which they gratified with incessant searches and immense expence, and to which they dedicated that time and that superfluity of fortune which many others of their rank employ in the pursuit of contemptible amusements, or the gratification of guilty passions. And, surely, every man, who considers learning as ornamental7 and advantageous to the community, must allow them the honour of public benefactors, who have introduced amongst us authors not hitherto well known, and added to the literary treasures of their native country.
That our catalogue will excite any other man to emulate the collectors of this library, to prefer books and manuscripts to equipage and luxury, and to forsake noise and diversion for the conversation8 of the learned, and the satisfaction of extensive knowledge, we are very far from presuming to hope, but shall make no scruple to assert, that, if any man should happen to be seized with such laudable ambition, he may find in this catalogue hints and informations which are not easily to be met with; he will discover, that the boasted Bodleian Library is very far from a perfect model,9 and that even the learned Fabricius cannot compleatly instruct him in the early editions of the classic writers.1
But the collectors of libraries cannot be numerous, and, therefore, catalogues could not very properly be recommended to the public, if they had not a more general and frequent use, an use which every student has experienced,


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or neglected to his loss. By the means of catalogues only can it be known, what has been written on every part of learning, and the hazard avoided of encountering difficulties which have already been cleared, discussing questions which have already been decided, and digging in mines of literature which former ages have exhausted.
How often this has been the fate of students, every man of letters can declare, and, perhaps, there are very few who have not sometimes valued as new discoveries, made by themselves, those observations, which have long since been published, and of which the world therefore will refuse them the praise; nor can that refusal be censured as any enormous violation of justice; for, why should they not forfeit by their ignorance, what they might claim by their sagacity?
To illustrate this remark, by the mention of obscure names, would not much confirm it, and to vilify for this purpose the memory of men truly great would be to deny them the reverence which they may justly claim from those whom their writings have instructed. May the shade at least of one great English critic rest without disturbance, and may no man presume to insult his memory who wants his learning, his reason, or his wit.2
From the vexatious disappointment of meeting reproach, where praise is expected, every man will certainly desire to be secured, and therefore that book will have some claim to his regard from which he may receive informations of the labours of his predecessors, such as a catalogue of the Harleian Library will copiously afford him.
Nor is the use of catalogues of less importance to those whom curiosity has engaged in the study of literary history, and who think the intellectual revolutions of the world more


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worthy of their attention, than the ravages of tyrants, the desolation of kingdoms, the rout of armies, and the fall of empires. Those who are pleased with observing the first birth of new opinions, their struggles against opposition, their silent progress under persecution, their general reception, and their gradual decline, or sudden extinction; those that amuse themselves with remarking the different periods of human knowledge, and observe how darkness and light succeed each other, by what accident the most gloomy nights of ignorance have given way to the dawn of science, and how learning has languished and decayed for want of patronage and regard, or been overborne by the prevalence of fashionable ignorance, or lost amidst the tumults of invasion and the storms of violence, all those, who desire any knowledge of the literary transactions of past ages, may find in catalogues, like this, at least, such an account as is given by annalists and chronologers of civil history.
How the knowledge of the sacred writings has been diffused, will be observed from the catalogue of the various editions of the Bible, from the first impression by Fust, in 1462, to the present time, in which will be contained the polyglot editions of Spain, France, and England, those of the original Hebrew, the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate, with the versions which are now used in the remotest parts of Europe, in the country of the Grisons; in Lithuania, Bohemia, Finland, and Iceland.3
With regard to the attempts of the same kind made in our own country, there are few whose expectations will not be exceeded by the number of English Bibles, of which not one is forgotten, whether valuable for the pomp and beauty of the impression, or for the notes with which the text is accompanied, or for any controversy or persecution that it produced,


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or for the peculiarity of any single passage.4 With the same care have the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer been selected, from which all the alterations which have been made in it may be easily remarked.5
Amongst a great number of Roman missals and breviaries, remarkable for the beauty of their cuts and illuminations, will be found the Mosarabic missal and breviary, that raised such commotions in the kingdom of Spain.6
The controversial treatises written in England, about the time of the Reformation, have been diligently collected, with a multitude of remarkable tracts, single sermons, and small treatises, which, however worthy to be preserved, are perhaps to be found in no other place.7
The regard which was always paid, by the collectors of this library, to that remarkable period of time, in which the art of printing was invented, determined them to accumulate the ancient impressions of the fathers of the church, to which the later editions are added, lest antiquity should have seemed more worthy of esteem than accuracy.8
History has been considered with the regard due to that study by which the manners are most easily formed, and from which the most efficacious instruction is received, nor will the most extensive curiosity fail of gratification in this library, from which no writers have been excluded that relate either the religious or civil affairs of any nation.9
Not only those authors of ecclesiastical history have been procured, that treat of the state of religion in general, or deliver


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accounts of sects or nations, but those likewise who have confined themselves to particular orders of men in every church, who have related the original, and the rules of every society, or recounted the lives of its founder and its members; those who have deduced in every country the succession of bishops, and those who have employed their abilities in celebrating the piety of particular saints, or martyrs, or monks, or nuns.
The civil history of all nations has been amassed together, nor is it easy to determine, which has been thought most worthy of curiosity.
Of France, not only the general histories and ancient chronicles, the accounts of celebrated reigns, and narratives of remarkable events, but even the memorials of single families, the lives of private men, the antiquities of particular cities, churches, and monasteries, the topography of provinces, and the accounts of laws, customs, and prescriptions, are here to be found.1
The several states of Italy have, in this treasury, their particular historians, whose accounts are, perhaps, generally more exact, by being less extensive, and more interesting, by being more particular.2
Nor has less regard been paid to the different nations of the Germanic empire, of which, neither the Bohemians, nor Hungarians, nor Austrians, nor Bavarians, have been neglected; nor have their antiquities, however generally disregarded, been less studiously searched, than their present state.3
The northern nations have supplied this collection, not only with history, but poetry, with gothic antiquities, and runic inscriptions; which at least have this claim to veneration,


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above the remains of the Roman magnificence, that they are the works of those heroes, by whom the Roman Empire was destroyed, and which may plead, at least in this nation, that they ought not to be neglected by those that owe to the men whose memories they preserve, their constitution, their properties, and their liberties.4
The curiosity of these collectors extended equally to all parts of the world; nor did they forget to add to the northern the southern writers, or to adorn their collection with chronicles of Spain, and the conquest of Mexico.5
Even of those nations with which we have less intercourse, whose customs are less accurately known, and whose history is less distinctly recounted, there are in this library reposited such accounts, as the Europeans have been hitherto able to obtain; nor are the Mogul, the Tartar, the Turk, and the Saracen, without their historians.6
That persons so inquisitive, with regard to the transactions of other nations, should enquire yet more ardently after the history of their own, may be naturally expected, and, indeed, this part of the library is no common instance of diligence and accuracy. Here are to be found with the ancient chronicles, and larger histories of Britain, the narratives of single reigns, and the accounts of remarkable revolutions, the topographical histories of counties, the pedigrees of families, the antiquities of churches and cities, the proceedings of parliaments, the records of monasteries, and the lives of particular men, whether eminent in the church or the state,


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or remarkable in private life; whether exemplary for their virtues, or detestable for their crimes; whether persecuted for religion, or executed for rebellion.7
That memorable period of the English history, which begins with the reign of King Charles the First, and ends with the Restoration, will almost furnish a library alone, such is the number of volumes, pamphlets, and papers, which were published by either party, and such is the care with which they have been preserved.8
Nor is history without the necessary preparatives and attendants, geography and chronology; of geography, the best writers and delineators have been procured, and pomp and accuracy have both been regarded.9 The student of chronology may here find likewise those authors who searched the records of time, and fixed the periods of history.1
With the historians and geographers, may be ranked the writers of voyages and travels, which may be read here in the Latin, English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages.2
The laws of different countries, as they are in themselves equally worthy of curiosity with their history, have, in this collection, been justly regarded; and the rules, by which the various communities of the world are governed, may be here examined and compared. Here are the ancient editions of the papal decretals, and the commentators on the civil law, the edicts of Spain, and the statutes of Venice.3
But, with particular industry, have the various writers on the laws of our own country been collected, from the most ancient to the present time, from the bodies of the statutes to the minutest treatise; not only the reports, precedents,


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and readings4 of our own courts, but even the laws of our West-Indian colonies will be exhibited in our catalogue.5
But neither history nor law have been so far able to engross this library, as to exclude physic, philosophy, or criticism. These have been thought, with justice, worthy of a place, who have examined the different species of animals, delineated their form, or described their properties and instincts, or who have penetrated the bowels of the earth, treated on its different strata, and analysed its metals; or who have amused themselves with less laborious speculations, and planted trees, or cultivated flowers.6
Those that have exalted their thoughts above the minuter parts of the creation, who have observed the motions of the heavenly bodies, and attempted systems of the universe, have not been denied the honour which they deserved by so great an attempt, whatever has been their success.7 Nor have those mathematicians been rejected, who have applied their science to the common purposes of life, or those that have deviated into the kindred arts, of tactics, architecture, and fortification.8
Even arts of far less importance have found their authors, nor have these authors been despised by the boundless curiosity of the proprietors of the Harleian Library. The writers on horsemanship and fencing are more numerous, and more bulky, than could be expected, by those who reflect how seldom those excel in either, whom their education has qualified to compose books.9
The admirer of Greek and Roman literature will meet, in


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this collection, with editions little known to the most inquisitive critics, and which have escaped the observation of those whose great employment has been the collation of copies;1 nor will he find only the most ancient editions of Faustus, Jenson, Spira, Sweynheim, and Pannartz, but the most accurate likewise and beautiful of Colinaeus, the Juntae, Plantin, Aldus, the Stephens, and Elzevir, with the commentaries and observations of the most learned editors.2
Nor are they accompanied only with the illustrations3 of those who have confined their attempts to particular writers, but of those likewise who have treated on any part of the Greek or Roman antiquities, their laws, their customs, their dress, their buildings, their wars, their revenues, or the rites and ceremonies of their worship, and those that have endeavoured to explain any of their authors from their statues or their coins.
Next to the ancients, those writers deserve to be mentioned, who, at the restoration of literature, imitated their language and their stile with so great success, or who laboured with so much industry to make them understood: such were Philelphus


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and Politian, Scaliger and Buchanan, and the poets of the age of Leo the Tenth;4 these are likewise to be found in this library, together with the deliciae, or collections of all nations.5
Painting is so nearly allied to poetry, that it cannot be wondered that those who have so much esteemed the one, have paid an equal regard to the other; and therefore it may be easily imagined, that the collection of prints is numerous in an uncommon degree; but surely the expectation of every man will be exceeded, when he is informed that there are more than forty thousand engraven from Raphael, Titian, Guido, the Carraches, and a thousand others, by Nanteuil,c Hollar, Callot,d Edelinck, and Dorigny, and other engravers of equal reputation.6
There is also a great collection of original drawings of which three seem to deserve a particular mention, the first exhibits a representation of the inside of St. Peter’s Church at Rome, the second, of that of St. John Lateran, and the third, of the high altar of St. Ignatius, all painted with the utmost accuracy in their proper colours.7


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As the value of this great collection may be conceived from this account, however imperfect, as the variety of subjects must engage the curiosity of men of different studies, inclinations, and employments, it may be thought of very little use to mention any slighter advantages, or to dwell on the decorations and embellishments which the generosity of the proprietors has bestowed upon it; yet, since the compiler of the Thuanian Catalogue thought not even that species of elegance below his observation, it may not be improper to observe that the Harleian Library, perhaps, excels all others, not more in the number and excellence, than in the splendour of its volumes.
We may now surely be allowed to hope, that our catalogue will be thought not unworthy of the public curiosity; that it will be purchased as a record of this great collection, and preserved as one of the memorials of learning.
The patrons of literature will forgive the purchaser of this library, if he presumes to assert some claim to their protection and encouragement, as he may have been instrumental in continuing to this nation the advantage of it. The sale of Vossius’s collection into a foreign country is, to this day, regretted by men of letters;8 and, if this effort for the prevention of another loss of the same kind should be disadvantageous to him, no man will hereafter willingly risque his fortune in the cause of learning.
As it is imagined that the approaching sale of so great and eminent a collection will excite, in an uncommon degree, the curiosity of the public, it is intended not only to receive subscriptions, as already mentioned, but to publish this catalogue in twelve numbers, by five sheets a week, at one shilling each number, of which the first will be delivered on Saturday the fourth of December.e


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Editorial Notes
2 Osborne had sold catalogues before: see, e.g., London Evening Post, 6–8 February 1739, where he “flatters himself that putting one shilling in the title-page (tho’ it stands him in near two) will not be thought unreasonable.” The cost of the Harleian Catalogue was ten shillings, but Osborne later agreed to refund the purchase price against sales, as he did earlier (see Catalogus, III.[ix–x], and Kaminski, p. 249, n. 31).
3 “By literary history is meant the history of matters any way relating to learning, thro’ all the ages and over all the countries of the world,” The Philosophical Works of Francis Bacon, 3 vols. (1733), Glossary, I.58.
4 The catalogue did not live up to its high ideals: see Wright, The Diary of Humphrey Wanley, I.lxxix; Thomas Kaminski, “Johnson and Oldys as Bibliographers: An Introduction to the Harleian Catalogue,” Philological Quarterly 60 [1981], 449; and DeMaria, p. 97.
5 The “men of letters” were SJ and William Oldys (1696–1761), Edward Harley’s literary secretary and author of The British Librarian (1737), a miscellany of bibliographical articles.
6 The catalogue of the library of French historian Jacques de Thou, Catalogus Bibliothecae Thuanae (1679), compiled by Ismaël Boulliau (Bullialdus); the catalogue of the library of the Dutch classical scholar Daniel Heinsius, Catalogus Variorum et exquisitissimorum librorum (Leiden, 1655); and the Index Bibliothecae (Rome, 1681), describing the books of Cardinal Francesco Barberini.
7 Ornamental: see Dictionary, s.v. ornament: “Honour; that which confers dignity” (sense 3).
8 Conversation: “Commerce; intercourse; familiarity” (Dictionary, sense 3).
9 According to Boswell, in SJ’s conversation with King George III he described the Bodleian as larger than any other library in Oxford or Cambridge; the king replied, “that is the publick library” (Life, II.35).
1 Johann Albert Fabricius (1668–1736) produced twenty-four volumes of classical bibliography (J. E. Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, 3 vols. [1908], III.2–3). SJ owned many of these (Greene, p. 57).
2 G. B. Hill identified the “critic” as Richard Bentley, who had died 14 July (Life, I.153, n. 1). Despite being much reviled for his edition of Paradise Lost (1732) and his presumed pedantry, Bentley was a great scholar with broad literary appeal (for a recent study, see Kristine Haugen, Richard Bentley: Poetry and Enlightenment [2011]). SJ was an admirer and quoted both his preface to Milton and, more extensively, his sermons in Dictionary. Cf. Life, I.71, IV.217, V.174.
3 The catalogue begins with Folio Biblia Sacra, Polyglotta, Hebraica, Graeca, and then Vulgata, followed by various modern language editions. Fust’s edition is the first of the Vulgata, item 35 (I.3). The Biblia Grisonum (a Romanian translation) is item 152, Icelandic Bibles are items 147–48, a Finnish Bible is item 151 (I.9), and a quarto New Testament in Lithuanian is item 283 (I.19).
4 The listings for the folio Biblia Anglica, items 154–213 (I.9–15), are heavily annotated. There are also extensive listings for the quarto and octavo English Bibles.
5 Under “English Liturgies. Folio” appear twenty-four editions of the Book of Common Prayer (I.116–17), with further listings in quarto and octavo (I.117–18).
6 The listing for item 160, Missale Mixtum secundum Regulam Beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes (Toledo, 1500), includes a lengthy account of the controversy surrounding the book and its trial by fire (I.84–85).
7 “Contro[versy] with the Papists” in various sizes of books comprises 297 items (I.129–47), some of them heavily annotated.
8 Patres Graeci, & Scriptores Ecclesiastici and Patres Latini in folio comprise seventy-nine items (I.36–40), including thirty incunabula.
9 Historia Ecclesiastica has pride of place (I.41–51), but histories of very numerous times and places are also listed.
1 Histories of France are divided by city and region, beginning with Paris, ending with Provence (II.534–51).
2 Beginning with Rome, Venice, and Florence, many Italian cities are listed separately (I.341–63).
3 Histories of all and sundry German states comprise two hundred items (I.364–78).
4 Historical works relating to the northern nations, Nationum Septentrionalium, in general and various places within them comprise seventy-nine items (I.391–99). That the British constitution derived from the polity of the “northern nations” was an accepted point of political history at this time. See John Fortescue, The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy, ed. John Fortescue-Aland (1714), which SJ quoted in his “History of the English Language” (Yale, XVIII.207–10).
5 Histories of Spain are listed at the beginning of volume II (489–502). Histories of Mexico are listed under Hist. Indiae Occidentalis (II.708–13) and “Hist. of America” (II.713–18).
6 Some works on the Moguls appear under “Hist. of the E. Indies” (II.694–98), which is followed by Hist. Tartariae et Sinae (II.698–703). Histories of Turkey and Persia are listed together (I.689–91). Saracenica, Turcica, et Persica and Hierosolimytana [Jerusalem] et Palestina occupy thirteen pages (II.681–93).
7 Histories of England and Scotland comprise 989 items (I.416–75).
8 There is a separate heading, “During the Troubles of King Charles the First and King Charles the Second,” which includes a separate listing of “Prynne’s Works” (I.450–59).
9 One hundred forty-seven items are listed under “Geography” (I.272–79).
1 Seventy-three items are listed under “Chronology” (I.328–33).
2 “Voyages to Diverse Parts of the World” is the heading for ninety-nine items (II.724–29), but much travel writing appears in other parts of the catalogue.
3 Works of jurisprudence and law cover sixty pages (II.621–80).
4 Readings: lectures on the interpretations of various statues given by distinguished lawyers to students at the Inns of Court.
5 Works pertaining to English law cover forty-three pages (635–77); “Laws of the British Plantations in America” is the heading for twenty-five items (II.679–80).
6 These subjects occupy about 105 pages (II.775–879).
7 Works of astronomy are at II. 901–7.
8 Mathematical works are at II.897–900; architecture, II.937–41; military matters, II.975–81.
9 See “Of Hunting and of Sports and Exercises” (II.894–96); “Of Armory and Duelling” (II.964–66); “Art of Riding” (II.962–64).
1 The section of classical writers begins with fifty-seven editions of Homer (I.161–62).
2 Johann Fust (fl. 1450–66), Gutenberg’s partner and successor in Mainz (e.g., items 5103–4, Cicero de Officiis [1465], with a lengthy note); Nicolaus Jenson (1420–80), a fine Venetian printer and type designer (e.g., item 3846, Ovidii Metamorphosis [n.d.], and 5293, Quintilianus [1471], with notes on Jenson); Johannes da Spira (d. 1470), first printer of Venice, and his brother Wendelin (e.g., 5019, Cicero, Epistolae Familares [1469], with a note on Spira); Konrad Schweinheim (d. 1475) and Arnold Pannartz (d. 1478) introduced printing into Italy (e.g., 3914, Lucanus [1469], with a note on the publishers); Simon de Colines (1475–1547), distinguished French printer (e.g., 3794, Horatii Opera, 1540); Philippo Giunta (1450–1517), his brother Lucantanio (1457–1538), Florentine printers (e.g., item 3503, Sophoclis Tragediae VII [1522]); Christopher Plantin (c. 1520–89), book-binder, printer, and publisher in Antwerp (e.g., 3512, Sophoclis Tragediae VII [1579]); Aldus Manutius (Teobaldo Manucci, 1450–1515), Venetian printer and scholar (e.g., 3410, Sophoclis Tragediae VII [1502]); Stephens (Estienne), a family of Parisian printers including Henri and Robert (e.g., 15094, Thesaurus Graecae Linguae [1572], with an excerpt from the preface); Louis Elzevir (1546–1617), founder of a Dutch family of printers and publishers (e.g., 4447–69, with a note on Elzevir editions).
3 Illustration: “Explanation; elucidation; exposition” (Dictionary).
4 These neo-Latin poets are listed under the rubric “Recentiores Poetae” and arranged by country (I.196 ff.). Francesco Filelfo (1398–1481) from Tolentino (e.g., 4078–79); Poliziano (Angelo Ambrogini, 1454–94), of whose poetry SJ once planned an edition (Life, I.90), seems missing from the section; Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484–1558) and his son Joseph (1540–1609), Italian scholar-poets with roots in France (e.g., 4130; cf. 6346); George Buchanan (1506–82) of Scotland (e.g., 4202). Pope Leo X, Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici (1475–1521); of Pope Leo’s age and included in the catalogue are such poets as Jacopo Sannazaro (e.g., 4080) and Marco Girolamo Vida (e.g., 4118 and 4274).
5 Items 4337–42 are Deliciae illustrium Poetarum of various countries.
c Nanteuil emend] Nautueil Folio, Catalogue, GM, Post, Advertiser
d Callot emend] Callet Folio, Catalogue, GM, Post, Advertiser
6 Pictures, prints, and drawings occupy nearly fifty pages, beginning at II.1025. The catalogue of drawings is separately paginated. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483–1520), Tiziano Vecelli (c. 1488–1576), Guido Reni (1575–1642), Lodovico (1555–1619), Annibale (1560–1609) and another unspecified Carracci, Robert Nanteuil (1623 or 1630–78), Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–77), Jacques Callot (1592–1635), Gérard Edelinck (1640–1707), and Michel Dorigny (1617–65) and/or his son Nicholas (1658–1746) are all represented in the catalogue, most on the first page of “Books of Prints” II.1 [1035]. The names of Callot and Nanteuil are badly misspelled (see nn. c and d above).
7 Items 1, 3, and 2, respectively, in the list of drawings (II.35 [1070]).
8 The manuscripts owned by Isaac Voss, canon of Windsor and son of the even greater classical scholar Gerhard Johann Voss, were sold by Voss’s heirs to the University of Leiden in July 1690, for 33,000 Dutch guilders (see G. A. Lindeboom, Herman Boerhaave [1968], p. 26).
e As it is imagined . . . fourth of December Folio] om. Catalogue, GM, Advertiser] 11th of December Post
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Document Details
Document TitleAn Account of the Harleian Library
AuthorJohnson, Samuel
Creation Date1742
Publ. DateN/A
Alt. TitleN/A
Contrib. AuthorN/A
ClassificationSubject: Catalogue; Subject: Edward Harley; Subject: Library; Subject: William Oldys; Subject: Bible; Subject: Early printing; Genre: Essay; Genre: Advertisement
PrinterN/A
PublisherThomas Osborne
Publ. PlaceLondon
VolumeSamuel Johnson: Johnson on Demand
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Editorial Notes
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