The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Samuel Richardson – serie

This is the first edition to assemble all of the earliest known works by Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), one of the most influential authors in the English tradition. Richardson's exercises in conduct-writing, religious controversialism, anti-theatrical polemic, occasional verse, literary criticism - and his popular and surprisingly revealing edition of Aesop's Fables - resonate throughout his later work while claiming ample legitimacy of their own. Readers familiar with only Pamela, Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison will gain a fresh appreciation of the genesis of and the historical and cultural complexities at work in these famous novels, and readers new to Richardson will encounter an agile writer who invites closer consideration. A lengthy introduction situates the constituent works in Richardson's career as well as in the period more broadly, and the extensive textual apparatus records the bibliographical histories of the texts and their treatment by their present editor.

Pamela in Her Exalted Condition follows the heroine of Richardson's hugely popular first novel into married life. In the process, he explores both the experience of women beyond the stage of courtship and provides a fascinating insight into the social and cultural life of the mid eighteenth century. The first ever scholarly edition of the novel, this volume features a critically edited text, general and textual introductions, full annotations and textual apparatus. Appendices describe all the editions published in Richardson's lifetime as well as early nineteenth-century editions. The original illustrations from the popular octavo edition of 1742 and Richardson's index are reproduced. The publication of this novel in the Cambridge edition allows the sequel to Pamela to take its rightful place in the critical study of Richardson's development as a novelist.

Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded is perhaps the most influential novel published in Britain in the eighteenth century. On its first publication in 1740, it became an immediate bestseller. Its epistolary structure, tight plotting and didactic message were praised, imitated, but also criticised and satirised. This new critical edition of Samuel Richardson's first novel features an authoritative text based on the first edition, general and textual introductions, extensive explanatory notes and textual apparatus. Appendices provide bibliographical descriptions of all lifetime editions as well as the editions of 1801 and 1810, Richardson's introduction to the second edition (fully annotated), and the illustrations and Richardson's index from the octavo edition. The publication of this volume heralds the first full scholarly edition of Richardson's complete works, a long-awaited event in eighteenth-century studies.