Hester Thrale

Johnson has a plate of food sent to him behind a screen at his publisher’s office. Painting byHenry Wallis

The wit and wisdom of Dr Johnson is still of benefit to us all

16 June 2018 9:00 am

The most irritating of recent publishing trends must be the literary self-help guide, and Henry Hitchings’s contribution to the genre…

James Gillray’s ‘The Wig’. Hairdressing was a good time to catch up on the latest novel

The pleasures of reading aloud

26 August 2017 9:00 am

‘I have nothing to doe but work and read my Eyes out,’ complained Anne Vernon in 1734, writing from her…