M'NICOL (Donald): - Remarks on Dr. Samuel Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides; In which are contained, Observations on the Antiquities, Language, Genius, and Manners of the Highlanders of Scotland.

London: Printed for T. Cadell..., 1779. FIRST EDITION. 8vo, 206 x 120 mms., pp. viii, 371 [372 Errata], contemporary calf, red leather label; front joint cracked and tender, top and base of spine worn. In his "Advertisement," M'Nicol asserts that he wrote the book immediately after the publication of Johnson's Journey (1775) but forebore publishing it, as he was a novice in the writer's trade. His publication is now "too long delayed.... Unfortunately, Dr. Johnson's `Journey' has lain dead in the library, for some time past." His remark is curiously correct: there were several printings of Johnson's work, both in Dublin and London in 1775, but nothing after that until 1785. Boswell read the work for the first time on 27 July 1780 and asked another advocate, John Maclaurin, later Lord Dreghorn, if the work were actionable. Maclaurin advised against prosecution, which in any case would probably not have pleased Johnson. Johnson's work and M'Nicol's were published together in Glasgow in 1812; that probably would have pleased neither author.

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