Journals of the Western Isles : A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

Published in 1775, this travel book records Johnson's 1773 tour of the Highlands and Hebrides with James Boswell. He describes inns, boats, weather, ruined fortifications, and the remaining structures of clan life after the Forty-Five: chiefs, tacksmen, Gaelic, second sight, and the economics of cattle and kelp. Iona and other islands prompt remarks on early Christianity and on oral tradition. Johnson measures Scottish manners against English ones without writing a political pamphlet. The work is a sequential journey of observation and argument, Johnson's prose account rather than Boswell's later companion narrative of the same trip.

Bound in green cloth blocked with a wrap-around picture. Brown spine title label. Printed in gilt. Dark brown endpapers and slipcase.