Los lectores españoles de Samuel Richardson: Un estudio de la suscripción a Clara Harlowe (1794-1796)

Abstract

The article analyses commercial, sociological and cultural aspects of the sale by subscription of Clara Harlowe, the Spanish translation of the novel Clarissa by Samuel Richardson. The detailed study of press advertisements reveals the nature of the readership at which this novel was aimed, and assesses the publicity and sales techniques used to attract buyers. The list of 770 readers is subsequently examined as a way to create a sociological and cultural picture of the novel's readership at a high-point in Spain's enthusiasm for the novel. The resulting two sources of information, allied to their analysis, combine to provide a definition of the particular significance of Clarissa, and, in general, of translated long novels, enabling one to establish the public for novel readership in the prevailing social and cultural renewal of the genre and determine its sales in Spain at the end of the 18th century.

Keywords

• clarissa
• subscription lists
• press announcements
• the book market
• readership
• the novel
• the 18th century