Hester Lynch SALUSBURY

In March 1788 Hester Piozzi brought out her two-volume Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. through the publisher Thomas Cadell. The work gathers 278 letters exchanged between 1765 and 1784—many never before in print—with Piozzi’s own affectionate and revealing annotations that illuminate the warmth, intellectual intimacy, and occasional playfulness of their friendship.

Among the highlights are Johnson’s tender letters from his last illness thanking her for pears and consoling her on family troubles; his mock-serious “courtship” letters during her absences; his praise of her literary judgement (“You have fairly beaten your mummy in clearness”); and several candid admissions of melancholy and physical suffering that soften the stern public image Boswell preferred.

Printed in an edition of 2,000 copies, the book sold rapidly and earned her (according to Boswell’s grudging estimate) £500. Reviewers generally praised its authenticity and humanising glimpses of Johnson, though some faulted Piozzi for publishing private letters so soon after his death.

The appearance of the volumes irreparably widened the breach with James Boswell, who regarded any rival memorial to Johnson as an intrusion upon his own territory. He denounced the publication as indelicate and used it as further ammunition in his long campaign to discredit “the Streatham lady” and assert his sole right to Johnson’s legacy.