Book dossier

The rambler

by Samuel Johnson

The *Rambler* was a British essay periodical edited and principally written by Samuel Johnson. A total of 208 issues were published from 1750-1752, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Essay periodicals were a lot like 21st century blogs, in that each issue was written by a single person, on whatever topic struck his/her fancy. The *Rambler* was more serious than some other essay periodicals, and was not a great commercial success on first publication. It discussed various subjects including morality, literature, society, politics, and religion. The *Rambler* has been reprinted many times, because it represents the finest writing of one of the greatest 18th century English prose stylists. Samuel Johnson is more often quoted than any other English author except Shakespeare.