The Turk's Head Message Board

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The Turk's Head Message Board

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1haftime
Jul 29, 2006, 10:16 am

I admit, I don't know a lot about Samuel Johnson, except that he wrote the first English dictionary(awesome!). I haven't read my Boswell. But I like the idea of a forum for the discussion of literature.

2Eurydice
Jul 29, 2006, 8:10 pm

I haven't read as much Samuel Johnson as I would like to, but enjoy his sometimes-maligned writing (as well as his celebrated conversation) enormously. Indeed, I prefer him to Boswell. There are two as-yet untapped Samuel Johnson books in my library, and I've only read an abridgment of Boswell's Life of Johnson and one of my other two biographies - John Wain's, rather than Bate's - nut my acquaintance has been brief.

I'm glad to be allowed to join with you all at the Turk's Head!

3Eurydice
Jul 29, 2006, 8:10 pm

Apologies for the typos.

4jcbrunner Primer Mensaje
Ago 1, 2006, 10:07 am

Hi, I set up a LT account named after Johnson's cat "Hodge" to collect all the books he cited in his dictionary. Obviously, a long-shot project.

5continental_drifter Primer Mensaje
Ago 1, 2006, 12:49 pm

I discovered the value of studying Samuel Johnson quite by default. One of my favorite professors in college was teaching "The Age of Johnson" during my last semester, and I frankly would have have taken any class that she might have offered. (She was that great.) Going in, I didn't know Samuel Johnson from Ben Jonson from Johnson & Johnson, but by the time the semester ended, I was left chomping at the bit for more of Johnson's witty aphorisms and Boswell's uncanny memory for them. I recently finished Adam Sisman's _Boswell's Presumptuous Task_. Has anyone else read this yet? I'd like to hear your thoughts...

6Foxhunter Primer Mensaje
Ago 2, 2006, 7:22 am

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

7kittenry Primer Mensaje
Ago 2, 2006, 1:27 pm

I was at Johnson's house in Gough Square last summer, the 250th anniversary of the Dictionary, and was excited to see that the British treasury was going to issue a commemorative coin, in much the same way as the US is doing the 50 state quarters. Alas, I don't think I was still there when that coin finally hit the streets - have any of you seen it?

8xtofersdad Primer Mensaje
Ago 2, 2006, 1:41 pm

Thank you for the invitation also; I'm attracted as much by the subject matter as by the idea of a virtual drink in the Turks Head (now no longer real unfortunately) or one of the other watering holes Johnson used. If the group works well we could eventually have a real drink in a real pub; I noticed recently that the Samuel Pepys diary web site fan club (http://www.pepysdiary.com/about) have just had their first get together in The Anchor in London so there's an ambition in my mind; Johnson's birthday BTW is 18th September...ie soon!

9jfclark
Ago 3, 2006, 10:19 am

A few months ago I embarked on a journey through the 13 published volumes of Boswell's journals; these were the McGraw-Hill volumes published over several decades culled from the Boswell archives at Yale (as distinguished from the ongoing "scholar's editions" being published by Yale Univ. Press). Some of the McGraw-Hill volumes are expensive and hard to find, but so far they've all been quite worthwhile. Currently I'm plowing through the fifth volume, "Boswell In Search of a Wife."

It's easy to see how Boswell acquired his own cultus, even apart from the Life of Johnson. He's engaging, painfully fallible, and endlessly dreaming. Has anyone else dipped much into Boswell's papers?

10Elpenor Primer Mensaje
Ago 3, 2006, 12:17 pm

Of the journals I've only read Boswell's London Journal. "painfully fallible and endlessly dreaming" is indeed an accurate description.

Boswell's Presumptuous Task I found to be an entertaining introduction to the man and his book. Not as entertaining as said book, though.

Which books by Johnson do you recommend? I've only dipped into Lives of the English Poets.

11Eurydice
Ago 3, 2006, 6:05 pm

Personally, though it sounded rather grim from the descriptions, I enjoyed Rasselas immensely. Johnson's sense of humor and his humanity made it enormously enjoyable, despite being an essentially pessimistic moral work. It's both like and very unlike the contemporary Candide. Most notably, Johnson has none of Voltaire's savagery. Also, I have read (I am not sure where) that Boswell read it yearly as an adult, finding it a book of great wisdom. In any case, as an early foundation of that respect which drew him to Johnson, it may be specially appropriate.

I also love his Ramblers, etc., though there are many I've not yet come to. - I must take up reading them again soon.

12Eurydice
Ago 4, 2006, 2:12 am

P.S. I'm pleased to see we've climbed to 19 members. :)

13thf1977 Primer Mensaje
Ago 6, 2006, 10:15 am

I am a bit of a Boswell buff as might be gathered from my collection of Boswell related literature as well as my homepage www.jamesboswell.info. I haven't read anything of Johnson's yet, except from some excerpts from the Rambler and his travelogue of the Hebridean tour.

Anyway - looking forward to discussing this select group of people with you all :)

14Eloise
Ago 7, 2006, 1:44 pm

Thank you for the invitation to the group. I came to Johnson, as most people do, through Boswell whom I adore. He is a wonderful writer, funny, honest and I particularly like that he was unafraid to make himself seem a buffoon if it showed his subject in a true light (my favourite story is the one he amuses Johnson with on the Hebrides trip, when as a young man he made animal noises in the theatre during a dull play and was cheered with 'encore the cow!'). When I visited one of Johnson's houses in London a couple of years ago it was a very special experience because of the personal connection that Boswell has allowed me to have with him.

I've read the Life of Johnson, the London Journal and the Tour to the Hebrides, which is my favourite. I've also read the Sisman book on Boswell and enjoyed it, especially as he is not at all hostile to his subject. Of Johnson's own writing I've read a volume of the Lives of the English Poets and a few Rambler essays which is pretty poor I suppose. However, I enjoyed them immensely and the Lives led me to read some poetry and letters sat on my shelves of the poets written about by Johnson, which I think is a good recommendation.

15Robertgreaves
Dic 21, 2006, 3:51 am

I'm currently reading Dr. Johnson's London by Liza Picard, a fascinating social history of mid-eighteenth century London. I'm planning to follow it up with Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, which I read about 25 years ago, and then the Penguin Selected Essays of Dr. Johnson.

16Pepys
Abr 9, 2007, 8:10 am

Hello,

Is this group still alive?

I'm looking for an answer to a very precise question concerning the Dictionary. On my fac-simile edition, when entries have a Greek origin, the Greek name is given (of course in Greek characters).

Up to this point, nothing very exciting. But it happens that in the Greek transliteration, there is sometimes a kind of shell-like character (actually looking very much as a @). Is is a variant writing of the omega letter? Or does it mean that the Greek word has been truncated because the rest of the word was of no interest? I can't figure exactly its meaning. Does anybody knows?

17jbd1
Abr 9, 2007, 9:07 am

Frantzouche, can you give an example word so I can see what you mean?
Thanks!

18Pepys
Abr 9, 2007, 1:12 pm

Quick reply, jbd1! I haven't got the two Folio volumes with me at the moment. I'll tell you on Wednesday. Thanks.

19Elpenor
Abr 9, 2007, 1:49 pm

It isn't simply a sigma of the end-of-the-word kind, with some fancy typographical twist?

20Pepys
Abr 9, 2007, 3:25 pm

19> Could be. I have to check this hypothesis. I hadn't thought it could be a final sigma. Thanks anyway for the while. I'm surprised by the reactivity of this group although there hasn't been any post since December!

21thecardiffgiant
Abr 10, 2007, 5:10 pm

I believe that what you're seeing is the ligature for the ending -os (omicron sigma).

He also employs the stigma (which looks something like a top-heavy final sigma) for the letter combination st (sigma tau). You can see both under the entry for acrostick (from ἄκρος and στίχος, which is printed something like like ἄκρ@ + Ϛίχ@).

(I don't think the -os ligature is available in Unicode.)

22MMcM
Abr 10, 2007, 9:03 pm

And ou, too. So s.v. Acousticks it looks sorta like Ἀκ♉Ϛτικὰ.

23Pepys
Abr 11, 2007, 12:45 pm

Oh thanks to all of you. These ligatures are terrible to read! I had already noticed that the "stand-alone" tau had a strange shape. But for deciphering the stigma, you really need to be a qualified hellenist. Thank you for your welcome in the group through these typographical answers.

24jbd1
Abr 15, 2007, 9:08 am

Today (15 April) marks the "birthday" of the Dictionary, which made its appearance in 1755.

25Pepys
mayo 15, 2007, 4:17 am

It's me again. And again with a question about ligatures. There are many places in the Dictionary where the Greek etymology, though ending with an omicron+sigma, doesn't use the @ ligature. It's rather funny that these occurrences seem to cluster in some pages of the Dictionary. For instance, I noticed yesterday for some PAR entries:

paradise (paradeisos)
paradox (paradoxos)
parallel (parallelos)
paroxysm (paroxismos)

For all these words, no @, but ος at the end. Does it mean that in the 18c. printers didn't use ligatures systematically but rather as they pleased? Or did some printers like them and others didn't?

Subsidiary question: does anybody know what happened to the so-called Johnson's Dictionary Project? (Apparently, their Web site is no more available.)

26perodicticus
mayo 15, 2007, 4:31 am

Este mensaje fue borrado por su autor.

27SamuelJohnsonLibrary
mayo 12, 2008, 3:05 pm

In case you haven't seen it, this user now has the catalog of books created for the estate sale of Doctor Johnson's books.

28Eurydice
mayo 14, 2008, 6:43 pm

I did, and gratefully!

29varielle
Editado: Dic 17, 2014, 10:59 am

Here's a link to a review of a book celebrating the 250th anniversary of Dr. Johnson's dining club. I thought you guys could use a little reviving. http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2014/12/dr-johnsons-dining-club... Actually not much of a review, more of a notification.

30Pepys
Dic 18, 2014, 5:23 am

For an octavo bound in cloth, £100 is quite expensive for 142 p...

31Pepys
Dic 18, 2014, 5:38 am

Looking at a question I asked a few years ago about the Johnson's Dictionary Project, I think I've found it there: http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?page_id=47.

I don't know if you were aware of it, and I thought it could be mentioned here. I haven't explored it yet, but it seems promizing.

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