The Yale Editionof the Works of Samuel Johnson, when it is complete, will comprise twenty-three stout volumes, roughly 10,000 pages, of Johnson’s writings – and that does not include the two huge volumes of the Dictionary, the eight volumes of his Shakespeare edition, the five volumes of his catalogue of the Harleian Library, the five volumes of his letters, or many of the other uncollected writings. Johnson’s oeuvre is not only extensive but stunningly diverse: in those dozens of volumes we find fiction, poetry, a play, journalism, biographies, essays, and pamphlets on subjects as diverse as politics, psychology, religion, sociology, travel, literary criticism, linguistics, even science, medicine, and music. Simply to list those works in their various editions – as J. D. Fleeman did in his magisterial Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson,Treating His Published Works from the Beginnings to 1984 (2000) – fills 2,000 pages. It is impossible to do justice to the full range of Johnson’s publications in an essay of this size, or even one many times larger. We can, however, put his major publications in the context of his career.

Early years

After the failure of Johnson’s school at Edial Hall, near his hometown of Lichfield, in 1736, his prospects looked bleak. Johnson decided to try his fortune in London, and in March 1737 he set out with a tragedy he had been writing, Irene, in his pocket. When he failed to have this play produced and his funds were running low, he turned to Edward Cave, founder in 1731 of the first magazine, the monthly Gentleman’s Magazine(see chapter 25, “Journalism”). It was the beginning of Johnson’s life as a published author.