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Appendix II - Lady Bradshaigh’s and Samuel Richardson’s Commentary on Sir Charles Grandison, Volume VII

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2022

Peter Sabor
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
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Summary

On 25 February 1754, Richardson sent Lady Bradshaigh a package containing the seventh and final volume of the first duodecimo edition of Sir Charles Grandison, together with the sixth and final volume of the octavo edition. Both were pre-publication presentation copies; the volumes were issued to the public simultaneously some three weeks later, on 14 March. Richardson had already given Lady Bradshaigh volumes I–VI of the duodecimo and volumes I–V of the octavo; she would now have two complete sets. She should have received her copies before the general public, but the package was mislaid en route from London to HaighHall and delivered to her only on 18 March. She read the entire 400-page duodecimo volume in a single day and then read it through again, ‘that Imay be more sensible of its particular beauties’ (II, 428). In a letter of 21 May, she told Richardson that she had given it a third reading, this time taking a day and a half (II, 443).

Of Lady Bradshaigh's two presentation sets of Sir Charles Grandison, only volume VII of the duodecimo edition has survived. It is housed at the Huntington Library, California, call number 106535, together with volumes I–VI of another presentation copy given by Richardson to Elizabeth Harris (1722–81) and her husband, the linguistic philosopher James Harris (1709–80), who acknowledged the gift in a letter of 10 November 1753. Each of the first six volumes contains the bookplate of Harris's younger daughter, Louisa Margaret Harris (1753–1836). In addition, volumes II and III bear the inscription ‘Eliza Harris’ at the head of the title pages, while volume I is inscribed on the verso of the front free endpaper, facing the title page, ‘Eliza Harris Given by the Author’. Beneath that, in a different hand, is the inscription ‘Louisa M. Harris’. On the front fixed endpaper is written (in Richardson's hand) ‘Lady B. Revised’.

The seven volumes are externally virtually uniform in appearance, being uncut in the original simple untrimmed trade quarter binding, with what are now rubbed and faded marbled boards and spines covered in sheep rather than calf.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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