The Making of Dr Johnson, the latest book by JSA President John Wiltshire, officially launched by John Byrne at the 2009 seminar, traces the development of the public image of Samuel Johnson since the publication of Boswell’s Life.

The book shows there was much more to Johnson than is revealed by Boswell, who simply did not know much about important stages of Johnson’s life, and who also tended to gloss over, or hide, some aspects which did not accord with his virtual canonisation of  his subject.

John Wiltshire draws proper attention to other 18^th Century biographies and memoirs of Johnson, notably those of Sir John Hawkins and Mrs Thrale, which draw a much different picture of Johnson’s character and behaviour.  In addition, due weight is given to contemporary criticism of his work, his literary style, and his aggressive argumentation.

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An appreciative audience enjoyed the new program format for the Johnson Tercentenary Seminar and Dinner on July 25. A reading by Bronwen Hickman from Fanny Burney’s diaries separated two excellent…

John Byrne, the "Western Idler" of our newsletter The Southern Johnsonian, and a foundation member of the JSA, appreared in a segment of the ABC series "Collectors" on Friday July…

The JSA celebrated the Johnson Tercentenary in typically convivial fashion at a dinner on Friday, May 15, at the Montague Hotel in South Melbourne, where President John Wiltshire welcomed 19 guests.

Before, during and after the dinner, a number of celebrated eminences on the Johnsonian landscape were honoured by readings from The Life and other sources. John Wiltshire read the letter to Chesterfield, surely one of literary history’s greatest “come-uppances”, Barrie Sheppard entertained us with a reading of Soames Jenyns verse epitaph written at the death of Johnson; and Boswell’s reply, Bronwen Hickman chose extracts from Fanny Burney’s diaries recording the acrimonious and one-sided argument by Johnson with Mr Pepys, while Bryan Reid read Boswell’s description of his meeting with Johnson in Tom Davies’ parlour.

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After a number of extended outages this year the JSA web site has now been moved to a much more reliable hosting service.

The JSA has maintained an online presence for more than 11 years, originally as part of Bryan Reid’s personal Ozemail webspace (where the newsletter archives are still located), then hosted for free on the web servers of a number of generous organisations including Australian web analytics software company Aimstats.

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The Annual General Meeting of the JSA on October 4, was the first to be held following the incorporation of the Society.  The committee and office bearers, constituted according to the incorporation rules, were unanimously elected:

President: John Wiltshire

Vice-President: Clive Probyn

Treasurer: Barrie Sheppard

Secretary: Barbara Niven

Committee: Bryan Reid, Bronwen Hickman.

The two other members of the pre-incorporation committee, Denis Le Neuf and Paul Tankard, have been asked to become ex-officio members.

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JSA President John Wiltshire’s latest book, The Making of Dr Johnson, to be published during the Johnson Tercentenary next year, tells the story of how Samuel Johnson became known as  “Dr Johnson”, a quickly recognisable figure, famous for “talking for victory”. It is one of a series called “Icons of Modern Culture” published by Helm Information.

Several members of the Society, including the Western Idler and Dr Paul Tankard, have helped to make the book an important record of the history of the great man.

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John Byrne, foundation member and first Treasurer of the Johnson Society of Australia, will be President for 2008 and 2009 of two prestigious Johnson Societies – one in the United Kingdom and one in America.

John, for many years been recognised as being one of the world’s most enthusiastic and knowledgeable collectors of  Johnson and Johnsoniana, as well as a tireless correspondent with fellow Johnsonians internationally, has been appointed President of The Johnson Society of Lichfield for 2008/2009.

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Johnson’s Dictionary: An Anthology, ed. David Crystal.  Penguin Books, London 2005.  xlvi + 650 pp.  RRP $39.95

From being for practical purposes unavailable to most people, Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language is suddenly more available now than it has been for a century or so.  The book’s 250^th birthday in 2005 has had something to do with this.  The full-text is available on a number of C.D.s-ROM and online.  David Crystal, who is probably the world’s best-known and most prolific linguistic scholar, has made this Penguin Classics edition, which is the second of two recently-published volumes of selections from the great book.

It is good that this major work of a major writer, and a pioneering work of its kind, is available – albeit in truncated form – to modern readers, as a book.  No conscientious selection from such a work could fail to please; perhaps the best way to review Crystal’s edition is not to retail truisms about the Dictionary itself, but to compare this edition with that of Jack Lynch, Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, which came out in 2002.

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Dr Simon Bower, a consultant neurologist, drew on his own clinical experience to address the issue of Tourette’s Syndrome, in his paper delivered at the JSA’s 15^th Annual Seminar in June 2008 where about forty members and guests attended.

Tourette’s Syndrome has been suggested as an explanation for Johnson’s reported physical quirks and odd behaviour. Simon described the usual manifestations of the syndrome, namely motor tics and obsessive behaviours (of which Johnson had a number).

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