Richardson, Samuel

Clarissa. Or, the History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. And Particularly Shewing, the Distress that may attend the Misconduct Both of parents and Children, in Relation to Marriage. London: Printed for S. Richardson, 1748



7 volumes, 12mo (6 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.; 159 x 95 mm). Folding plate of engraved music in vol. 2, cancel leaves C2, C11, and E2 in vol. 3 (stubs not visible), M5 in vol. 5 (stub visible), and E10 (stub visible) and L12 (stub not visible) in vol. 6, second state of vols. 3–4,with the preface following the title in vol. 4, browned throughout with some foxing and spotting, mostly marginal; (vol. 5):I5 roughly cut at right margin, short marginal tear on R8 just touching one letter; (vol. 6): hole in G2 costing 2 words, loss to upper right corner of M7 costing text in top 4 lines, long tear on O12 touching 3 lines of text. Later half calf over marbled boards, plain endpapers and edges; sympathetically rebacked with smooth spines to style with red morocco lettering pieces, ruled and numbered gilt.  

Helen Dunbar Ferres (various ownership inscriptions on pastedowns and title-pages, one dated 1827) 

Grolier/English 47; Rothschild 1748; Sale 32

First edition. Dr. Johnson famously called Clarissa "the first book in the world for the knoweldge it displays of the human heart," but also observed that "if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself."  Consisting of over a million words, its length is generally acknowledged by critics as a crucial component of the novel's greatness, allowing for the detailed development of the two principal characters' moral, emotional, and psychological states as well as of the irrevocably tragic conflict that arises between them.