Johnson and His Circle

"I have a Trick of writing in the Margins of my Books. It is not a good Trick, but one longs to say something" Hester Thrale Piozzi wrote in her diary. Indeed, the Hyde Collection holds dozens of books from her library, many extensively annotated. This is one of the most significant. She and Boswell were rivals for Johnson's attention during his life and for his legacy after his death, but Mrs. Piozzi kept up her end of the rivalry for many years after Boswell's death in 1795. Throughout this copy, and in another, also held at Houghton Library, Mrs. Piozzi challenges Boswell on his recollection of events, particularly when, as here, she is portrayed in an unflattering light. The story of Johnson's rebuke to her cannot be true, she maintains, since she never ate larks, nor dared to address the Great Cham (in Tobias Smollett's enduring nickname) as "My dear Johnson."