[Dr Johnson and Lord Chesterfield]

The location of the original manuscript of this essay is not known. It was first published by A. H. Japp in ‘Some Unconscious Confessions of De Quincey’ in The Gentleman’s Magazine, 261 (1886), pp. 128–30. It was then republished, in facsimile and with a transcription, by Ben Abramson of New York, as Thomas De Quincey: Dr Johnson and Lord Chesterfield (1945). Abramson, however, was unaware that the manuscript had been previously published by Japp, for his title page stated that it was ‘printed now for the first time’. Abramson’s ‘Forward’ records that ‘the original manuscript was in the possession of the late Mr Frank Hogan, and is now in the collection of Mr Harry Glickman’ (p. 9). Based on Abramson’s facsimile reproduction, the manuscript is two sheets, measuring approximately 210 by 255 mm, with writing on the recto only. Neither Japp’s nor Abramson’s transcription records De Quincey’s deletions or the placement of his insertions. This information appears here for the first time.