The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams

First published in 1742, this comic novel follows Joseph Andrews, a virtuous footman dismissed from Lady Booby's service for refusing her advances, as he walks home toward his sweetheart Fanny. He is joined by Parson Abraham Adams, an absent-minded, learned, and pugnacious clergyman whose good nature keeps landing them in inns, ditches, and the hands of thieves. Encounters with hypocrites, squires, and false charity parody fashionable tales of virtue. Questions of birth and a country match rise as they near home. The book is a picaresque comic epic in prose, not a conduct manual and not a serious moral tract.

Bound in white linen with a reverse repeat pattern in brown by Harris, leather spine label. White dust-jacket printed in green and black.