James Boswell (1740–1795) was the son of a judge. His father had gained the title Lord Auchinleck, which opened the door for Boswell to enter high society in London and Edinborough. Boswell studied law and even opened a successful practice, but he had literary ambitions. Although the active social life of London attracted him, it sometimes got the better of him. Apparently one of his major goals was to befriend noted writers, and this he did persistently and remarkably well. His meeting with Samuel Johnson in 1763 proved to be the most influential. Thirty years separated the two men in age, but after a shaky beginning, they remained friends for life, even through a long tour through the sparsely populated Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides Islands. After Johnson died in 1785, Boswell spent a great deal of time completing The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., which stands today as his greatest literary accomplishment. Though he took great pleasure in his own reputation as a writer, in some ways he always saw himself as a failure.

Besides the Life of Johnson, Boswell published An Account of Corsica (1768) and Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Dr. Johnson (1785). He was working on a third volume of the biography of his famous friend when he died in 1795.