1770-1776 Samuel Richardson's Epistolary Novels Clarissa, Pamela, Grandison

Description

Early Edition, Folding Plates, Leather Binding

Grandison and Clarissa are illustrated, with a frontispiece to all volumes of Clarissa and to volume I of Grandison.  The frontispieces to volumes III and IV of Clarissa are misbound respectively. With an additional folding plate to letter X of Clarissa volume I. 

Early editions of these groundbreaking literary works. Richardson was a rare example of the author also being the printer. The skill of his printing is demonstrated in 'Paper X' of Clarissa, which is more commonly known as one of her 'mad papers'.  Richardson was important in 'The Rise of the Novel' as many critics and historians agree that 'Pamela plays a critical role in the development of the novel in English.  

'Pamela' follows a beautiful 15 year old maidservant whose country landowner master makes unwanted advances towards her following the death of his mother. 

'Clarissa' tells the story of a heroine whose quest for virtue is thwarted by her family. It is also known for being the largest novel in the English language. 

'The History of Sir Charles Grandison' was written as a response to Henry Fielding's 'The History of Tom Jones' which parodied the morals in Richardson's previous novels. Therefore, Grandison is a morally good man compared to the male characters of his prior writings. 

A fantastic set of this important canonical author's works.

Scarce to have so many early editions of Richardson's works together in one uniformly bound library set.