Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and
printer known for three
epistolary novels: ''
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), ''
Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''
The History of Sir Charles Grandison'' (1753). He printed almost 500 works, including journals and magazines, working periodically with the London bookseller
Andrew Millar. Richardson had been apprenticed to a printer, whose daughter he eventually married. He lost her along with their six children, but remarried and had six more children, of whom four daughters reached adulthood, leaving no male heirs to continue the print shop. As it ran down, he wrote his
first novel at the age of 51 and joined the admired writers of his day. Leading acquaintances included
Samuel Johnson and
Sarah Fielding, the physician and
Behmenist George Cheyne, and the theologian and writer
William Law, whose books he printed. At Law's request, Richardson printed some poems by
John Byrom. In literature, he rivalled
Henry Fielding; the two responded to each other's literary styles.
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