James Boswell

James Boswell (1740-1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, Lord Auchinleck. He is best known as the biographer of Samuel Johnson. His name has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer.

Boswell is known for taking voracious notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman.

His manuscripts have been collected by Yale University.

Works

• Account of Corsica (1768)
• The Hypochondriak (1777-1783, a monthly series in the London Magazine)
• The Journal of the Tour of the Hebrides (1785)
• Dorado, a Spanish Tale (1786, anonymously)
• The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

• Wikiquote - Quotes by James Boswell
• Project Gutenberg e-text of James Boswell's Life of Johnson