Born: September 18, 1709 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England Died: December 13, 1784 in Bolt Court, England Nationality: British Occupation: Poet, Playwright, Journalist, Essayist, Critic Source: Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, Volume 2: Writers of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century, 1660-1789. Gale Research, 1992. Table of Contents Biographical Essay Further Readings Works Although Johnson's output of writing was enormous, only a relatively small amount of manuscript material has survived. The largest holding is in the Hyde Collection, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey, which incorporates the collection of R. B. Adam, described in four volumes (The R. B. Adam Library Relating to Dr. Samuel Johnson and His Era, 1929-1930); important holdings are in other private collections. The Yale University Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the library of Pembroke College, Oxford, and the Johnson Birthplace Museum, Lichfield, have important manuscripts. A useful guide is J. D. Fleeman, A Preliminary Handlist of Documents and Manuscripts of Samuel Johnson (Oxford Bibliographical Society Occasional Publications, no. 7, 1967). This does not include the locations of manuscripts of Johnson's letters, which are listed in R. W. Chapman's edition of the letters (1952). A forthcoming new edition of the letters, in five volumes, will include newly discovered letters and new ...
