Samuel Johnson\'s prolific writing career continued to the end of his life, and this massive work was one of his last. Published in four volumes, it comprises short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during the eighteenth century. These were arranged, approximately, by date of death. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Religiously, he was a devout Anglican, and politically a committed Tory. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as \"arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history\" He is the subject of James Boswell\'s \'The Life of Samuel Johnson\', described by Walter Jackson Bate as \"the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature\". Our book is in remarkably good condition, bound in half leather and marbled boards. There is rubbing to the boards, and some tearing of the marbled paper at top & bottom; slight cracking to the front spine angle, and a little shelf wear to top & tail of spine; corners lightly bumped; leather generally a little darkened here & there; gilt title etc on spine rather faded. Inside, however, the binding is firm with no loose pages; all pages clean and bright; no foxing seen. A contemporary-looking bookplate pasted inside the front cover was clearly cut from a larger sheet, and a pencilled note above states: \"Bookplate is an inkjet print of original\". It purports to be the bookplate of William Marwood of Busby, Yorkshire (1819-1883) who was a hangman for the British government, developed the technique of hanging known as the \"long drop\", and hanged 176 people in 9 years. In view of the pencilled note, however, one has to be cautious about this apparent connection.