BIOGRAPHY
 

            Little is known of Richardson's early life. He was the son of a London joiner, or cabinetmaker, he was born in Derbyshire in 1689, but later his family returned to London. He himself says that he had only "common school learning"; he only knew reading and writting. Being "not fond of play" he was nicknamed "serious" and "gravity", but was in demand as a teller of stories, which always carried "a usefull moral". He also acquired a reputation as a writer of letters. When he was 10 years old, he wrote anonymously to a widow 50, reproving her hypocrisy and malice. He was "an early favourite with all the young women of taste and reading in the neighbourhood" and was employed to write answers to their love letters.
            In 1706 he was apprentice to the London printed John Wilde; in his free time, he collected prefaces, indexes and dedications. He rose steadily, becoming a freeman of the Stationers' Company in 1715, and in 1718 or 1719 setting up his own business; a little printing house at Fleet Street neighbourhood, and in 1724 established a bigger one at Salisbury Court. Remarks on Mr. Pope's Rape of the Lock (1728), by J. Dennis and Britannia (1729), by J. Thomson, come from Richardson's printing house. These works aspired to transmit some knowledge, and at the same time they were the source of the European romanticism. Texts like The Aprentice's Vademecum, or Young Man's Pocket Companion (1733), are which show Richardson's worries. In his business career, Richardson was prosperous,  respectable, hardworking, thrifty, prudent and humdrum. His outward success concealed the impact of private tragedy. Hi was twice married, in 1721 to Martha Wilde, his master's daughter, and in 1732 to Elizabeth Leake, sister of a prosperous bookseller in Bath. Of six children of his first  marriage, five died in infancy, and one, a boy of four, in 1730. Another son, born in 1739, died in 1740. These and other bereavements helped to bring on the nervous ailments of his later life. His professional success also concealed any hint that he was to write the great tragic novel of his time.
            In 1739 hi acquired the lease of part of a house at North End, Hammersmith. This became a much-loved home, and in a "groto", or summerhouse, in the garden, he wrote his novels and voluminous letters, and entertained his admirers, including the so-called "garden of ladies": Sarah Fielding and her sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Hester Chapone, Susannah Highmore, daughter of Joseph Highmorem, Sarah Westcomb, to whom he became "adopted" father, Charlotte Lennox, and other "bluestockings", with whom he discussed his novels before publication. This country house was also a meeting place for other friends, Aaron Hill, Dr. Johnson, Hogarth, Colley Cibber, Arthur Onslow (the speaker of the House of Commons, who in 1724 had employed him to print its Journals), and Edward Young, whose Night Thoughts he published.
            In 1739 he began to write a volume of model letters for the use of the country reader that appeared as Familiar Letters (1741). While engaged in writing the form letters he also wrote and published the celebrated novel Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded (4 volumes, 1740-1741). In 1747-1748 the 7 volumes of Clarissa; or the History of a Young Lady appeared, and it is consideres his best work. His last important work was The History of Sir Charles Grandison (7 volumes, 1753-1754), in which he presented his ideal of a true Christian gentleman. He published verses in reviews like Universal Spectator and Gentleman's Magazine. He also edited scientific texts like Sir Thomas Roe. Richardson's last work was a tome of 400 pages, Maxims, or Meditations.
            In 1754 he became master of the Stationers' Company, and moved from North End to Parsons Green, where he died on July 4, 1761.