Samuel Richardson

Samuel Richardson (1689–1761) was an English printer who became, in his fifties, one of the founders of the modern novel. The son of a Derbyshire joiner, he was apprenticed to a London printer, built a prosperous business, printed the journals of the House of Commons and in 1754 was elected master of the Stationers' Company. A commission for a volume of model letters led to Pamela in 1740, which he followed with Clarissa, the longest novel in English, and Sir Charles Grandison. His epistolary method and his attention to feeling influenced Rousseau, Diderot and Goethe.