The Complete Novels of Mr. Samuel Richardson: The history of Clarissa Harlowe

Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady was first published in 1747 and 1748. Samuel Richardson wrote this massive epistolary novel as a moral didactic work, aiming to demonstrate the dangers faced by virtuous women in the eighteenth-century social landscape. Its immense length and tragic conclusion provoked intense debate among his contemporaries, who were often divided between admiration for his psychological insight and frustration with his didactic tone.

The physical volume containing this work is part of a broader collected edition of Richardson's novels. These editions were designed to memorialize his contribution to the development of the English novel, standardizing the text for later generations of scholars and readers. The design typically reflects the formal, dignified aesthetic of classic nineteenth-century publishing, intended to position Richardson as an foundational literary figure.