This is an auction for RASSELAS by Samuel Johnson.

From Wikipedia:

"The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, often abbreviated to Rasselas, is by Samuel Johnson. The book was first published in 1759 in England. Johnson was influenced by the vogue for exotic locations including Ethiopia. He had translated A Voyage to Abyssinia by Jerónimo Lobo in 1735 and used it as the basis for a "philosophical romance". Early readers considered Rasselas to be a work of philosophical and practical importance and critics often remark on the difficulty of classifying it as a novel. Johnson was a staunch opponent of slavery, revered by abolitionists, and Rasselas became a name adopted by emancipated slaves. While the story is thematically similar to Candide by Voltaire, also published early in 1759 – both concern young men travelling in the company of honoured teachers, encountering and examining human suffering in an attempt to determine the root of happiness – their root concerns are distinctly different. Voltaire was directly satirising Gottfried Leibniz, who asserted that the world, no matter how we may perceive it, is the "best of all possible worlds". In contrast the question Rasselas confronts most directly is whether or not humanity is capable of attaining happiness. Rasselas questions his choices in life and what new choices to make in order to achieve happiness. Writing as a devout Christian, Johnson makes through his characters no blanket attacks on the viability of a religious response to this question, as Voltaire does, and while the story is in places light and humorous, it is not a piece of satire, as is Candide…”

Penguin paperback 1985.

322 pages.

Very good condition.

The cost of shipping is $5.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.