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Book of the
Month -- June 2026
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Samuel Richardson is best-known as the author of
the novels Pamela and Clarissa, but he also published a wide
variety of miscellaneous writings. Among these was a collection of model
letters dealing with the various requirements of everyday life -- to reprove a
wayward son; to propose marriage (and for the lady, to accept or decline the
proposal); to warn against n imprudent marriage; from a lady to her false
lover, who has abandoned her for another of larger fortune; to admonish a
mistress who seems fonder of her pet monkey that the writer; and many others,
essential for those who would seem polished and genteel.
Or at least, that was the intention. However,
Richardson let his talent run away with him, and many of the letters and
replies have been expanded into miniature epistolary short stories. Also he
includes a number of letters, as from a young woman to her aunt, describing the
sights and attractions of London, and much useful advice from the aunt to the
young woman in reply.
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AboutUs
The Ex-Classics project was founded in 2000 to fill an unmet need. When reading the blurb etc. to a book by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, say, we would often come across sentences like "Favourite reading included . . ." If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So off we go to the library or bookshop, to be met first with blank stares and then with the information that the book has been out of print for decades. Our first two books were Gil Blas and Hudibras, which are prime examples of this. This web site is dedicated to rescuing these works from obscurity and making them available online, both for reading directly, and for downloading.
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