Works of Samuel Johnson, Vols 7-8

Samuel Johnson’s notes on Shakespeare gathered and annotated for the first time  This first accurate and fully annotated text of an important segment of the Johnson canon features the notes of his first and revised editions of Shakespeare, the Preface and General Observations, the Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, the Preface to Mrs. Lennox’s Shakespeare Illustrated, and the Proposals for an Edition. Throughout, Johnson’s likes and dislikes in language, imagery, and poetic and dramatic techniques are unmistakably expressed. To illuminate Johnson’s comments, pertinent portions of Shakespeare’s text are reproduced.