The Novels of Henry Fielding: The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams; The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great; The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; Amelia.

FIELDING, Henry.

Item Number: 149372

Oxford: Basil Blackwell Publisher to the Shakespeare Head Press, 1926.

The Shakespeare Head Press limited edition of the novels of Henry Fielding, limited to one thousand and thirty copies. Octavo, ten volumes bound in full red morocco with gilt titles to the spine in six compartments within raised bands, gilt decorated inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. In fine condition.

Henry Fielding wrote several influential novels that played a key role in shaping the development of English literature. He began his career as a novelist with Shamela (1741), a satirical response to Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, in which he mocked the original's moral pretensions. The following year, he published Joseph Andrews (1742), which expanded on the satire while introducing more original characters and a lively comic style. In 1743, he released Jonathan Wild, a darkly humorous tale critiquing political and criminal corruption. His most famous work, Tom Jones (1749), combined robust storytelling, intricate plotting, and social commentary, and was celebrated for its innovation in narrative form. Fielding continued his literary career with A Journey from This World to the Next (1749), a philosophical allegory, and Amelia (1751), a more sentimental and morally serious novel that explored marriage and virtue.