Johnson’s Writings.

WORKS BY JOHNSON

• “Messiah” (1728), a translation into Latin of Pope’s poem
• A Voyage to Abyssinia (1735), translation from French into English of Jeronimo Lobo’s work
• “London” (poem) (1738)
• Gentleman’s Magazine, staff writer and editor (1738-1745)
• An Account of the Life of Mr Richard Savage (1744)
• Plan for a Dictionary of the English Language (1747)
• The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)
• Irene (play) (1749)
• The Rambler (1750-1752)
  • authoritative edition on Kindle, ed. Paul Rodriguez
• The Adventurer (1753-1754)
• A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
  • online version in progress, ed. Brandi Besalke
• The Idler (1758-1760)
• Rasselas (1759)
• The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765)
• The False Alarm (1770), political pamphlet
• Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland’s Islands (1771), political pamphlet
• The Patriot (1774), political pamphlet
• Taxation No Tyranny (1775), political pamphlet
• A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775)
• Lives of the Poets (1779-1781)

The authoritative modern edition of Johnson’s writing is published by Yale University Press. Volumes in print have been published, but it is also becoming freely available online:

• Yale Digital Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson

Johnson’s scattered writings on various themes and in various formats are part of the Yale edition:

• Diaries, Prayers, and Annals (ed. E. L. McAdam Jr., 1958)
• Poems (ed. E. L. McAdam Jr., 1964)
• Johnson on Shakespeare (ed. Arthur Sherbo, 1968)
• Political Writings (ed. Donald Greene, 1977)
• Sermons (ed. Jean Hagstrum and James Gray, 1978)
• Johnson on the English Language (ed. Gwin J. Kolb and Robert DeMaria Jr., 1990)

And there are other editions of other writings by Johnson:

• The Letters of Samuel Johnson (ed. R. W. Chapman, 1952)
• The Letters of Samuel Johnson (ed. Bruce Redford, 1992-1994)
• The Complete English Poems (ed. J. D. Fleeman, 1971)
• Samuel Johnson: The Latin Poems (transl. and ed. Niall Rudd, 2005)
• Early Biographical Writings of Dr. Johnson (ed. J. D. Fleeman, 1973)
• Samuel Johnson’s Prefaces and Dedications (ed. A. T. Hazen, 1937)

Many of Johnson’s works have also been digitized elsewhere. There is an erratic, electic, and non-comprehensive selection of them on Project Gutenberg.

In addition, many academic and research libraries that have substantial collections of Johnson material published and unpublished, have fortunately digitized some of these treasures for all to view, and/or have provided their catalogues online:

• The Hyde Collection at Harvard. See also the informative and entertaining Hyde Collection Catablog.
• Pembroke College collection at Oxford University. Researchers can make requests to view specific items.
• The British Library.
• The Boswell Collection at Yale.