Last summer Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson sold some very interesting
autograph letters written by Johnson to William Strahan, the printer.
I was fortunate enough to find that the purchasers, with but one
exception, were mindful of what Boswell so well describes as 'the general
courtesy of literature[1],' and were ready to place their treasures
at my service. To one of them, Mr. Frederick Barker, of 43, Rowan Road,
Brook Green, I am still more indebted, for he entrusted me not only with
the original letters which he had just bought, but also with some others
that he had previously possessed. His Johnsonian collection is one of
unusual interest. I have moreover to acknowledge my obligations to
Mr. Fawcett, of 14, King Street, Covent Garden; to Messrs. J. Pearson
and Co., of 46, Pall Mall; to Messrs. Robson and Kerslake, of Coventry
Street, Haymarket; to Mr. Frank T. Sabin, of 10 and 12, Garrick Street,
Covent Garden; and to Mr. John Waller, of 2, Artesian Road, Westbourne
Grove. Those of the letters which are undated, I have endeavoured to
assign to their proper places by internal evidence. The absence of a
date is in itself very strong evidence that they belong to a comparatively
early period (see _ante_, i. 122, n. 2).
[Footnote 1: Ante, iv. 246.]