Genius Fan

I own two books which through constant use and consultation are becoming increasingly raggedy, with spines I anticipate will split in 2026 accompanied by the sad ungluing of pages. In short: collapse. The books?

To The Hebrides: Samuel Johnson’s Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Ronald Black (ed), 2011

• Brilliant volume! It’s got loads more notes that explain and expand on the accounts that help you really live the events of their adventure! This is my go to edition when I’m researching this famous journey.
• It’s a paperback, published by Birlinn, and if you like to pick this book up once a week and thumb through it, flicking back and forth between calendar dates and the associated notes at the back, then you’ll find it starts to look worn after eighteen months wear and tear. Mine’s split at p.124 and p.456
• I have the Everyman’s Library Classics (2002) edition of Boswell and Johnson’s account (minus the extra notes and content from Ronald Black’s editorship) – which is a beautifully sewn and infinitely hardwearing design. I took it to Tenerife with me, it got bundled and rolled and dropped and squashed…it’s on my bookcase now and it looks like it’s wearing a tux at the baccarat table. CLASSIC!!!!!
• Gimme Ronald Black’s edition in an Everyman’s Library Classics hard cover. That would make me very happy. I know that book would last me a lifetime (and beyond). That’s a volume to leave in your will.

James Boswell: London Journal 1762-1763, Gordon Turnbull (ed) 2010

• Brilliant volume (also)! Once again, it’s updated the original 1950 publication of Boswell’s London Journal. And yes, it’s my go to edition when researching Boswell’s stay in London. Its still in healthy condition despite being unshelved and shelved, carried round the house, opened and closed, flicked between journal and notes multiple times during every reading session. This volume is of much better construction than the Birlinn volume mentioned in the previous section, ‘To The Hebrides’.
• It’s published by Penguin (a Penguin Classics edition) in softcover – no hardcover. Penguin owns the Everyman’s Library imprint that I’m so taken with (see previous section about ‘To The Hebrides’)…wouldn’t it be great if they’d decided to publish Boswell’s London Journal as an Everyman’s Library edition. That too would be a lifetime book. And yes, some unsuspecting niece or sibling would get this in my will.