"The Letters of Samuel Johnson" contains 52 previously unknown letters or parts of letters which have come to light since R.W. Chapman's work on the subject, published in 1952. For the first time, substantive deletions are recorded, yielding intimate knowledge of Johnson's stylistic procedures, mental habits and chains of association. Furthermore, detailed ownership credits document the current disposition of the manuscripts, hundreds of which have changed hands during the last four decades. Finally, the annotation of the letters incorporates the many significant discoveries of post-war Johnsonian scholarship, as well as decoding references that had resisted explanation before.