Although Samuel Johnson is recognized as the central English literary figure of the second half of the eighteenth century, and the period is often referred to as the Age of Johnson, no consequential edition of his works has appeared since 1825, and no edition at any time has exercised the care in presenting the complete and accurate text of his works that modern readers require. Now, Yale University is sponsoring a new edition of the works of Samuel Johnson, to include writings identified as his during the last twenty-five years and not printed in any previous collection of his works.

The complete Yale edition is expected to occupy at least twelve volumes. It will be guided by a distinguished committee made up of Herman W. Liebert (Yale) as chairman; Allen T. Hazen (Columbia) as general editor; Robert F. Metzdorf (Yale) as secretary; Walter J. Bate (Harvard); Bertrand H. Bronson (California); R. W. Chapman (Oxford); James L. Clifford (Columbia); Robert Halsband (Hunter); Frederick W. Hilles (Yale); Arthur A. Houghton, Jr., of New York City; Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Hyde, of Somerville, N.J.; William R. Keast (Cornell); Edward L. McAdam, Jr. (New York); L. F. Powell (Oxford); S. C. Roberts (Cambridge); and D. Nichol Smith (Oxford).

The inaugural volume in The Works of Samuel Johnson prints, for the first time completely and together, all of his autobiographical writings, including an unpublished diary for 1765-84, the longest and fullest of any of Johnson's diaries now known. Here are Johnson's own records of day-to-day events, of his mental process and spiritual life, of his readings, his travels, and his physical condition presented in chronological succession. The editors have provided an extensive running commentary that illuminates and interprets Johnson's account and constitutes a continuing narrative based on other sources and on detailed original research.