Samuel Johnson began writing The Idler anonymously in 1758, as a column in the short-lived and wonderfully—if not somewhat indecisively—titled London paper The Universal Chronicle or Weekly Gazette. In total, 103 Idler essays were written over a two year period and covered diverse and curious range of topics. Stirred from idleness ourselves by this fascinating collection of work, we have decided to republish a selection of Idler essays in our own way: starting with number one and ending wherever we see fit. 

As with all writing of such an age, there are words (and ideas) that have fallen out of use, and where we have felt a definition would be helpful, or of interest, we have referred to Dr Johnson’s best known work, A Dictionary of the English Language, for clarification. These definitions accompany the main text throughout, highlighted in pink and offset in their own intersecting column.

The Idler No.1 has been typeset by hand in various sizes of founders’ Diethelm, the majority of which has been cast by Rainer Gerstenberg, with a selection from the Desmond Jeffery collection held at The Counter Press, originally cast by Haas sometime in the 1950s. As a bold contrast to the text setting, the inside covers feature a large condensed grotesque wood letter typeface, giving the definition of an ‘Idler’ (again taken from Dr Johnson’s dictionary). 

The edition has been letterpress printed in two colours, with a third on the inside covers, using a Grafix precision proofing press and a Vandercook SP20. The paper is Velin BFK Rives Blanc, with a soft cover of Somerset Velvet Newsprint Grey, bound by hand in pink thread, with colour matched pink ink used throughout. 

Most of the edition has been reserved for friends of the press, with a few set aside for sale.