The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, the first complete editing of Johnson to appear since 1825, presents in this second volume the texts of the 104 numbers of the periodical essay The Idler, all but twelve of which were contributed by Johnson to The Universal Chronicle between 1758 and 1760, and the twenty-nine essays he contributed to The Adventurer in 1753 and 1754. Mr. Bate, chairman of the Department of English at Harvard University, has edited the Idler essays in collaboration with Mr. Bullitt, professor of English at Harvard, and the Adventurer essays in collaboration with Mr. Powell of Oxford University, reviser of the standard edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. Each series of essays is provided with an introduction, variant readings, and explanatory notes.

The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, the first complete editing of Johnson to appear since 1825, presents in this second volume the texts of the 104 numbers of the periodical essay The Idler, all but twelve of which were contributed by Johnson to The Universal Chronicle between 1758 and 1760, and the twenty-nine essays he contributed to The Adventurer in 1753 and 1754. Mr. Bate, chairman of the Department of English at Harvard University, has edited the Idler essays in collaboration with Mr. Bullitt, professor of English at Harvard, and the Adventurer essays in collaboration with Mr. Powell of Oxford University, reviser of the standard edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson. Each series of essays is provided with an introduction, variant readings, and explanatory notes.