Since the publication of William Merritt Sale's Samuel
Richardson A Bibliographical Record of His Literary Career with Historical
Notes (1936), scholars have known that there were seven duodecimo
editions and an octavo edition (1742) of Pamela and two
duodecimo editions and an octavo edition of the continuation (Volumes III
and IV) published during Richardson's lifetime. A duodecimo of both
(1762), called the "eighth edition," appeared shortly after his death.
Professor Sale determined that at least slight changes were made in the texts
of most of these editions, but so far as we know, no one has carefully
compared the texts to determine the extent of the revisions.
We have recently discovered that Richardson's last and most elaborate
revision of Pamela, long believed to have been lost, was
actually published in 1801 and reprinted in 1810. In connection with this
and with our work on Richardson's biography, we have been led to make
a textual study of the revisions of the novel. The nature of these revisions
should help in determining which text is to be regarded as the best text. At
present both the first (1741) and the last (1801) versions are available only
in the rare original editions.
The only two editions of Pamela now in print are the
Everyman Library edition, first published in 1914, and the Norton Library
edition (of the first part only), first published in 1958. Neither states which
text it is based on, and neither makes any claim to being a scholarly
edition. The Norton text seems to be identical with such earlier texts as Sir
Leslie Stephen's of 1883 and Ethel M. M. McKenna's of 1902, both of
which appear to go back, directly or indirectly, to the Reverend Edward
Mangin's of 1811. In most respects all of these texts resemble the
duodecimo published a few months after Richardson's death: they even
follow misprints in this edition. They do, however, contain some readings
which are like those in the octavo (1742) and unlike the posthumous
duodecimo (1762) and are, therefore, not exact
reprints of any text for which Richardson is known to have been
responsible. The Everyman text is in most respects identical with the
Norton and with the earlier texts which it resembles, but it does have
variants, at least some of which appear to be emendations introduced by
whoever prepared the copy or by the compositor.
The edition generally regarded as "standard" is that published by the
Shakespeare Head Press in 1929. This is a handsomely prepared edition,
but again makes no pretensions to being a scholarly one. It simply reprints
the octavo text with the addition of the introductory matter from the third
edition in duodecimo. But since Richardson made later revisions, it does not
represent his last intention. In our opinion, there is no more convincing
reason to regard it as standard than to regard the posthumous duodecimo
edition, which the Norton and Everyman texts resemble, or, indeed, any of
the other editions.
In examining the revisions of Pamela printed before the
1801, we have read the octavo edition against the first and eighth editions
in duodecimo and have then checked all changes against the other
duodecimo editions. We have also read selected passages of the other
duodecimos against the octavo — in the case of the seventh, the last
published during Richardson's lifetime, our selected passages amounted to
about a fourth of the whole. Since the selected passages disclosed only a
handful of very minor variations (most certainly and all possibly misprints)
which were not already disclosed by checking the differences between the
octavo and the first and eighth duodecimos; since the revisions form a
recognizable pattern; and since the pagination in all duodecimo editions is
virtually the same (it may get a few lines off, especially in the fifth and
eighth, to absorb changes, but soon gets back on again), it seems to us very
unlikely that we have missed any variants of
importance.
In any case, the numbers of changes given below are merely meant
to suggest the extent of revision. Since either an added paragraph or a
"was" altered to "were" counts as one change, the numbers are of course
only roughly indicative.
We have not included obvious misprints, changes in italics, spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, or paragraphing, or the expansion of
contractions. Since Richardson was his own printer, there is some
likelihood that his practice is reflected in these matters. They vary
somewhat in all editions, and in some cases the variation is significant:
there are more italicized words in the later editions; in the octavo and even
more in the 1801 many contractions are expanded; paragraphs were broken
up, especially in the second duodecimo and in the 1801.
We have read the 1801 edition of the continuation of
Pamela and have compared it with the octavo and the
posthumous duodecimo, but we have not thought it necessary, in view of
the slight intrinsic interest of this continuation, to make such a detailed
comparison between the various editions as for the first part. In the 1801
edition the changes in the text of the second part are at least as extensive
as those in the first. Many of them are cuts, which is certainly a gain. In
this article we are considering the revisions only of the original
Pamela, that is, of the first part or Volumes I and II.
For textual matters we are referring to the editions concerned, as
follows: 12mo means the duodecimo editions published during 1740-1761
(dated 1741-1762), the pagination of which is almost identical; 8vo means
the octavo edition of 1742; 1801 means the revised edition of 1801; 1810
means the edition of that date.
