Correspondence of Richardson's Final Years (1755–1761)

Offers the first scholarly edition of Samuel Richardson's final correspondence tracing his physical decline and abiding commitment to work.

Samuel Richardson (Author), Shelley King (Edited by), John B. Pierce (Edited by)

9780521831888, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 September 2019

344 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.69 kg

'The editors … have laboured hard tracking down almost all the names and references in Richardson's letters and they have provided extensive and illuminating notes and an entertaining introduction. My guess is the fastidious master printer Samuel Richardson would have approved of this volume.' Tibor Fischer, The Critic

Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) was a prominent eighteenth-century printer and businessman as well as an important and influential English novelist. He was also a prolific letter writer. This volume in the first ever full edition of Richardson's correspondence offers a fascinating glimpse of the writer in his final years - at the height of his professional powers but facing the challenging circumstances of physical decline and commercial conflict. The collection of miscellaneous letters addresses a variety of issues ranging from details of Richardson's printing operation to his mentorship of women writers including Sarah Fielding, Anna Meades and Frances Sheridan. Other correspondents of note include Samuel Johnson, Meta Klopstock, Thomas Sheridan and Tobias Smollett. Taken together this series of letters draws an intimate picture of Richardson's professional and personal circles as they exchange family gossip, business advice, literary anecdotes and news of the day.

General editors' preface
General introduction
Textual introduction
The correspondence of Richardson's final years, (1755–61)
Appendix I. Richardson's commentary on Anna Meades's The History of Sir William Harrington
Appendix II. Samuel Richardson's will
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Diaries, letters & journals [BJ]