SOURCE: An introduction to Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Late Dr. Samuel Johnson, by William Shaw, and Anecdotes of the Late Samueljohnson, LL.D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life, by Hesther Lynch Piozzi, edited by Arthur Sherbo, Oxford University Press, 1974, pp. x-xiv.

In the following excerpt, Sherbo discusses Piozzi's biography of Johnson and the circumstances of its publication.

As early as 1768 when Johnson advised her to 'get a little Book' in which to write all the anecdotes and observations that might strike her fancy, Mrs. Piozzi (then Mrs. Thrale) began to devote herself to recording her friend's conversation and whatever she could learn about him. In 1776 her husband gave her six quarto blank books with a label stamped 'Thraliana' on each, and into these she copied stories about Johnson accumulated between 1768 and 1776 as well as other '-ana' she had jotted down. Professor...