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''The History of Sir Charles Grandison'', commonly called ''Sir Charles Grandison'', is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson first published in February 1753. The book was a response to Henry Fielding's ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', which parodied the morals presented in Richardson's previous novels.〔.〕 The novel follows the story of Harriet Byron who is pursued by Sir Hargrave Pollexfen. After she rejects Pollexfen, he kidnaps her, and she is only freed when Sir Charles Grandison comes to her rescue. After his appearance, the novel focuses on his history and life, and he becomes its central figure. The novel incorporates an epistolary format similar to Richardson's previous novels, ''Clarissa'' and ''Pamela''. Unlike those novels, Charles Grandison, the leading male character, is a morally good man and lacks the villainous intent that is manifested by the Lovelace or Mr. B (characters of ''Clarissa'' and ''Pamela'' respectively). Richardson was motivated to create such a male figure because of the prompting of his many female friends who wanted a counterpart to the virtues exhibited by Richardson's female characters . ==Background== The exact relationship between Fielding's ''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'' and Richardson's ''The History of Sir Charles Grandison'' cannot be known, but the character Charles Grandison was designed as a morally "better" hero than the character Tom Jones. In 1749, a friend asked Richardson "to give the world his idea of a good man and fine gentleman combined".〔.〕 Richardson hesitated to begin such a project, and he did not work on it until he was prompted the next year (June 1750) by Mrs. Donnelland and Miss Sutton, who were "both very intimate with one Clarissa Harlowe: and both extremely earnest with him to give them a ''good man''".〔 Near the end of 1751, Richardson sent a draft of the novel to Mrs. Donnellan, and the novel was being finalised in the middle of 1752.〔 While Thomas Killingbeck, a compositor, and Peter Bishop, a proofreader, were working for Richardson in his print shop during 1753, Richardson discovered that printers in Dublin had copies of ''The History of Sir Charles Grandison'' and began printing the novel before the English edition was to be published. Richardson suspected that they were involved with the pirating of the novel and immediately fired them. Immediately following the firing, Richardson wrote to Lady Bradshaigh, 19 October 1753: "the Want of the same Ornaments, or Initial Letters (), in each Vol. will help to discover them (exported into England ), although they should put the Booksellers Names that I have affixed. I have got some Friends to write down to Scotland, to endeavour to seize their Edition, if offered to be imported".〔.〕 There were four Dublin presses used to try to pirate the novel, but none of them were able to add the ornaments that could effectively mimic Richardson's own. However, there were still worries about the pirated copies, and Richardson relied on seven additional printers to speed up the production of ''Grandison''.〔 In November 1753, Richardson ran an ad in the ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' to announce the "''History of Sir Charles Grandison: in a Series of Letters published from the Originals, — By the Editor of Pamela and Clarissa'', London: Printed for S. Richardson, and sold by Dodsley in Pall Mall and others."〔 The first four volumes were published on 13 November 1753 and the next two volumes appeared in December. The final volume was published in March to complete a seven volume series while a six volume set was simultaneously published.〔 Richardson held the sole copyright to ''Grandison'', and, after his death, twenty-fourth shares of ''Grandison'' were sold for 20 pounds each.〔 Posthumous editions were published in 1762 (including revisions by Richardson) and 1810.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The History of Sir Charles Grandison」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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