As a printer, Richardson corresponded with authors, readers, and other printers and publishers. As a friend, he supported his correspondents when they were personally struggling. As a novelist, he engaged readers both before and after the publication of his works, soliciting their opinion and defending his own methods. Correspondence Primarily on Pamela and Clarissa (1732-1749) gives us Richardson the printer, the friend, and the novelist in the crucial early years of his unexpected success and fame as a literary writer, providing insight into how and why he created innovative works that changed the course of literary history.