Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) was an English writer, best known for his epistolary novels. He also worked as an established publisher who printed almost 500 different books and magazines. Regarded by many as a masterpiece, the novel “Clarissa; or, the History of a Young Lady” tells the story of a young woman named Clarissa Harlowe, whose way to happiness is constantly endangered by her own family. Pressured to marry a wealthy man, she leaves her home with Robert Lovelace. Even then she can’t ?nd peace, because Lovelace shows himself untrustworthy, spewing vague promises of marriage without any attempts to move from words to deeds.

Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) was an English writer, best known for his epistolary novels. He also worked as an established publisher who printed almost 500 different books and magazines. Regarded by many as a masterpiece, the novel “Clarissa; or, the History of a Young Lady” tells the story of a young woman named Clarissa Harlowe, whose way to happiness is constantly endan-gered by her own family. Pressured to marry a wealthy man, she leaves her home with Robert Lovelace. Even then she can’t ?nd peace, because Lovelace shows himself untrustworthy, spewing vague promises of marriage without any attempts to move from words to deeds.

Samuel Richardson was one of the great letter-writers in English. His three great novels, Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison were written in epistolary form, and Richardson himself was known in his time for the way he used his letters for both professional and personal purposes. As a printer, Richardson corresponded with authors, readers, and other printers and publishers. As a friend, he supported his correspondents when they were personally struggling. As a novelist, he engaged readers both before and after the publication of his works, soliciting their opinion and defending his own methods. Correspondence Primarily on Pamela and Clarissa (1732–1749) gives us Richardson the printer, the friend, and the novelist in the crucial early years of his unexpected success and fame as a literary writer, providing insight into how and why he created innovative works that changed the course of literary history.

A Companion to British Literature, Victorian and Twentieth-Century Literature, 1837 - 2000