This fourth volume traces Boswell's processes of composition from first draft to final publication. It restores much deleted material and passages lost or overlooked at proof and revision stage.

In this edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson", Marshall Waingrow offers a fresh reading of Boswell's work. He charts the changes made during composition and at the proof stage, and corrects and explains the printer's misreadings and author's errors which crept into the final edition.