Genius Fan

Ohhhh, I love a map, me! Maps bring stories to life…they help you visualise what’s happening, they add to the big picture. If you’re going to read James Boswell’s personal journals then you’re going to need to follow along on a map. And the editors of the various volumes have supplied a number of them to help you do so.

I went through my collection of The Yale Trade Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell – that’s the full name for the series of 14 journals, that were published by Yale University, USA, from 1950 up until the final one in 1989 – and not all volumes have a map. Four don’t have any and some volumes have five maps. Some even have fold out maps, reproductions of Eighteenth century maps from near to the time Boswell visited.

Full List of Maps

I’ve set out all 14 journals below, with the maps, where they’re located in the volume and any additional text that accompanies the map.

1. Boswell’s London Journal 1762–1763 (1950)
   • Map 01: A Map of London (west end)
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and free front endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of “Boswell’s London Journal” locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from the “New and Correct Plan of London” published in 1761 by R and J Dodsley (continued from the front endpaper)
   • Map 02: A Map of London (east end)
     • Location in volume: Back endpaper and free back endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of “Boswell’s London Journal” locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from the “New and Correct Plan of London” published in 1761 by R and J Dodsley (continued on the back endpaper)
2. Boswell in Holland, 1763–1764 (1952)
   • Map 01: A Map of Holland
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and free front endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of Boswell’s visit, locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map by Robert De Vaugondy in his Atlas Universel, 1757
     • Map 02: Identical to Map 01
3. Portraits, by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1952)
   • No maps
4. Boswell on the Grand Tour: Germany and Switzerland, 1764 (1953)
   • Map 01: A Map of Germany
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and free front endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of Boswell’s visit, locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map by Robert De Vaugondy in his Atlas Universel, 1757
   • Map 02: A Map of Switzerland
     • Location in the volume: Back endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of Boswell’s tour locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map by Robert De Vaugondy in his Atlas Universel, 1757
5. Boswell on the Grand Tour: Italy, Corsica and France 1765–1766 (1955)
   • Map 01: A Map of Italy
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and free front endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of Boswell’s tour locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map by Robert De Vaugondy, 1756
   • Map 02: A Map of Corsica
     • Location in volume: Back free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned by Boswell. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map in a New Description of the Island of Corsica, London, 1739
   • Map 03: A Map of France
     • Location in volume: Back endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Atr the time of Boswell’s tour locating many of the places mentioned. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from a map by Robert De Vaugondy, 1758
6. Boswell in Search of a Wife, 1766–1769 (1956)
   • Map 01: Map of the Environs of Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and front free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from an anonymous map, circa 1767 (Also, see “A Plan of the City of Edinburgh” opposite page viii)
   • Map 02: A Plan of the City of Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: Between p.x and p.xi
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from “The Plan of the City and Castle of Edinburgh” by William Edgar 1765
   • Map 03: A Map of England
     • Location in volume: Rear free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text.
   • Map 04: A Map of Scotland and Ireland
     • Location in volume: Rear endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text.
   • Map 05: Detailed Map: Auchinleck to Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: Rear endpaper (Small section at bottom right of endpaper)
     • Accompanying text: Drawn by Harold K. Faye
7. Boswell for the Defence, 1769–1774 (1959)
   • Map 01: London (West End and Westminster)
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and front free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of “Boswell for the Defence” locating many of the places mentioned.
   • Map 02: Plan of the City of Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: A long map folded into three, tucked between p.x and p.xi (Front. No map on the reverse)
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from “The Plan of the City and Castle of Edinburgh” by William Edgar, 1765
   • Map 03: A Map of the Environs of Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: (Reverse of Map 02) A long map folded into three, tucked between p.x and p.xi
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text. Redrawn by Harold K. Faye from an anonymous map, circa 1767
   • Map 04: A Map of London (The City and Southwark)
     • Location in volume: Back endpaper and back free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: At the time of “Boswell for the Defence” locating many of the places mentioned.
8. Boswell’s Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson (1961)
   • Map 01: A Map of the Tour Through Scotland and the Hebrides
     • Location in volume: Front endpaper and front free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: As described ibn the text. Redrawn by Lilli Mautner after a map published by Charles Dilly, London 1791
   • Map 02: A Map of the Tour Through the Hebrides
     • Location in volume: Rear endpaper and rear free endpaper
     • Accompanying text: Redrawn by Lilli Mautner after a map published by Charles Dilly, London 1791
9. Boswell: The Ominous Years, 1774–1776 (1963)
   • Map 01: Map of the Environs of Edinburgh
     • Location in volume: Double page map in illustration section between p.134 and p.135
     • Accompanying text: Locating many of the places mentioned in the text. Redrawn by Harold K Faye from an anonymous map, circa 1767
10. Boswell in Extremes, 1776–1778 (1970)
    • Map 01: Map of Edinburgh
      • Location in volume: Double page map in illustration section between p.194 and p.195
      • Accompanying text: 1778, locating many of the places mentioned by Boswell, engraving by D.Lizars for The History of Edinburgh by Hugo Arnot
11. Boswell, Laird of Auchinleck, 1778–1782 (1977)
    • No maps
12. Boswell: The Applause of the Jury, 1782–1785 (1981)
    • No maps
13. Boswell: The English Experiment, 1785–1789 (1986)
    • No maps
14. Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789–1795 (1989)
    • Map 01: Map of Cornwall
      • Location in volume: In illustrations section between p.160 and p.161
      • Accompanying text: Showing part of Boswell’s jaunt. From a map by Thomas Martyn, 1784.