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Richardson's literary career began after he was in his fifties and well-established as a printer, when two booksellers proposed that he should compile a volume of model letters for unskilled letter writers. The idea of introducing a central theme occurred to him and he interrupted his task (printing business) to write and publish his novel of morals in letter form, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (2 vol., 1740). All of Richardson's novels were enormously popular in their day. Although he was a verbose and sentimental storyteller, his emphasis on detail, his psychological insights into women, and his dramatic technique have earned him a prominent place among English novelists. |