James Boswell invents biography with The Life of Samuel Johnson.

Published in 1791, it at once commands the admiration that the Scottish writer has sought for so long, and it has since suffered no diminution.

Its style is unique in that, unlike other biographies of that era, it directly incorporates conversations that Boswell had noted down at the time for his journals.

He also includes far more personal and human details than those to which contemporary readers are accustomed.

Instead of writing a respectful and dry record of Johnson's public life, in the style of the time, he has painted a vivid portrait of the complete man.

It is still often said to be the greatest biography ever written.

While Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject only began in 1763, when the former was twenty-two years old and Johnson fifty-four, Boswell has covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research.

The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson's life, as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson's quotations and even censors many comments.

Regardless of these actions, modern biographers have found Boswell's biography as an important source of information.

The work is popular among early audiences and with modern critics, but some of the modern critics believe that the work cannot be considered a proper biography.