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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia Paperback - 2009

by Samuel Johnson


From the publisher

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 above his father's bookshop in Lichfield, England. He was a sickly child, scarred by smallpox, with facial and vocal tics, likely symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. But he proved a brilliant student, attending Oxford until a lack of funds forced his departure. (Numerous honorary degrees would later justify his famous sobriquet "Dr." Johnson.) At twenty-five he married Elizabeth "Tetty" Potter, a well-off widow twenty-one years his senior. She funded a school Johnson started, but lost much of her wealth when the school failed. Wracked by guilt, Johnson walked to London and, living virtually on the street, began writing reviews, essays and news for magazines, notably The Idler and The Rambler. In 1744, he published his masterpiece, Life Of Savage, an innovative warts-and-all biography of his friend, writer Richard Savage. Johnson would write several more "lives," culminating in his acclaimed three-volume Lives of The Poets. In 1746 a group of publishers asked Johnson to compile an authoritative English dictionary. He completed the massive undertaking in 1755, and A Dictionary of the English Language would set the standard for the next 150 years. Upon his death in 1784 he was buried in Westminster Abbey. Yet his fame only rose when, in 1791, his friend James Boswell published became the most famous "life" of them all: Life of Samuel Johnson.

Details

  • Title Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
  • Author Samuel Johnson
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 208
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Melville House Publishing
  • Date 2009-08-25
  • ISBN 9781933633442 / 1933633441
  • Weight 0.47 lbs (0.21 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.61 in (18.03 x 12.95 x 1.55 cm)
  • Reading level 1250
  • Library of Congress subjects Satire, Happiness
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008009406
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

"I wanted them all, even those I'd already read."
—Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Observer

"Small wonders."
Time Out London

"[F]irst-rate…astutely selected and attractively packaged…indisputably great works."
—Adam Begley, The New York Observer

"I’ve always been haunted by Bartleby, the proto-slacker. But it’s the handsomely minimalist cover of the Melville House edition that gets me here, one of many in the small publisher’s fine 'Art of the Novella' series."
The New Yorker

"The Art of the Novella series is sort of an anti-Kindle. What these singular, distinctive titles celebrate is book-ness. They're slim enough to be portable but showy enough to be conspicuously consumed—tiny little objects that demand to be loved for the commodities they are."
—KQED (NPR San Francisco)

"Some like it short, and if you're one of them, Melville House, an independent publisher based in Brooklyn, has a line of books for you... elegant-looking paperback editions ...a good read in a small package."
The Wall Street Journal

About the author

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 above his father's bookshop in Lichfield, England. He was a sickly child, scarred by smallpox, with facial and vocal tics, likely symptoms of Tourette Syndrome. But he proved a brilliant student, attending Oxford until a lack of funds forced his departure. (Numerous honorary degrees would later justify his famous sobriquet "Dr." Johnson.) At twenty-five he married Elizabeth "Tetty" Potter, a well-off widow twenty-one years his senior. She funded a school Johnson started, but lost much of her wealth when the school failed. Wracked by guilt, Johnson walked to London and, living virtually on the street, began writing reviews, essays and news for magazines, notably The Idler and The Rambler. In 1744, he published his masterpiece, Life Of Savage, an innovative warts-and-all biography of his friend, writer Richard Savage. Johnson would write several more "lives," culminating in his acclaimed three-volume Lives of The Poets. In 1746 a group of publishers asked Johnson to compile an authoritative English dictionary. He completed the massive undertaking in 1755, and A Dictionary of the English Language would set the standard for the next 150 years. Upon his death in 1784 he was buried in Westminster Abbey. Yet his fame only rose when, in 1791, his friend James Boswell published became the most famous "life" of them all: Life of Samuel Johnson.
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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (Art of the Novel)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (Art of the Novel)

by Johnson, S.

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781933633442 / 1933633441
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Melville House Publishing, 2009. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. In good all round condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,300grams, ISBN:9781933633442
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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

by Johnson, Samuel

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781933633442 / 1933633441
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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

by Samuel Johnson

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  • Paperback
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781933633442 / 1933633441
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This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
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Melville House Publishing, 2009. Paperback. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia

by Johnson, Samuel

  • Used
Condition
Used - Very Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781933633442 / 1933633441
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Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (The Art of the Novella)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia (The Art of the Novella)

by Johnson, Samuel

  • Used
  • Good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781933633442 / 1933633441
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