
Early Works
'Aesop's Fables', 'Letters Written to and for Particular Friends' and Other Works
Samuel Richardson(Author)
Alexander Pettit(Editor)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 1. December 2011
Book
Hardback
848 pages
978-0-521-83052-2 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for the Series: 'At last we are going to have a definitive edition of Samuel Richardson's works and correspondence, long overdue, for the writer who was the most influential novelist of the eighteenth century. This ambitious project, 25 volumes of his works and his most important literary correspondence - each volume entrusted to a respected scholar - will illuminate all areas of eighteenth-century studies for Richardson's oeuvre lights up the entire century.' Ruth Perry, Ann Fetter Friedlaender Professor of the Humanities and MacVicar Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Praise for the Series: 'At last, this most editorially neglected of great writers is getting the treatment that his works and correspondence deserve. Scholars are eager to get their hands on the first volumes of this complete Richardson, with authoritative texts and rich annotation prepared by a world-class team under Keymer and Sabor's leadership. This new edition marks an epoch in Richardson studies.' Jane Spencer, Professor of English, University of Exeter 'Excellent ...' The Times Literary Supplement 'Any reader who has fully absorbed the terrors of Pamela's marriage or pursued to the end the intensities of Clarissa will want to read Grandison too, and so will Jane Austen fans curious about the novel said to have been her favorite. What awaits them is a love story fueled by embarrassment, a forerunner to the modern romantic comedy but also a worthy successor to Clarissa, in which the protagonists face situations so abysmally awkward as to require of them heroic feats of tact and moral imagination. That we now have a magisterial scholarly edition in print is cause for celebration.' Sarah Raff, Eighteenth-Century Studies, on The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Samuel RichardsonMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
1438 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-83052-2 (9780521830522)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Samuel Richardson | Alexander Pettit
Early Works
'Aesop's Fables', 'Letters Written to and for Particular Friends' and Other Works
E-Book
02/2012
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€133.99
Available for download
Persons
Alexander Pettit is Professor of English at the University of North Texas.
Content
General editors' preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; List of abbreviations; General introduction; Textual introduction; The Apprentice's Vade Mecum (1733); A Seasonable Examination of the Pleas and Pretensions (1735); Verses from The Gentleman's Magazine (1736); Preface to Aubin, A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels (1739); Aesop's Fables (1739); Letters Written to and for Particular Friends (1741); Six Original Letters upon Duelling (1765); Appendix. The Infidel Convicted (1731); Emendations; Word-division; Bibliographical descriptions of early editions; Explanatory notes; Index.