Talk:Sarah Fielding
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Information on the "Sarah outsold Henry" issue: First, I had heard it as a general proverb during grad school that Sarah outsold Henry. However, that wasn't sufficient. References indicated that David Simple outsold Tom Jones. Then they indicated that it outsold Joseph Andrews. Well, I haven't gone to the ESTC to find out, so I won't step in front of anyone making changes. However, what I would suggest is that, when all of Sarah's works are combined, her novels outsold Henry's novels. When SF's children's literature is added in, her sales go way up, and when Henry's plays are excluded from his lifetime sales it probable that, during their respective lifetimes, Sarah was the bigger seller (and, of course, Henry died young). Joseph Andrews became a big seller, eventually, but I believe it was not an enormous success at first, and nothing like Tom Jones.
All of this comes down to the following: I had a citation for the outsold, but I don't trust it. I think there is some truth back there somewhere. At least one of the permutations of sales will mean Sarah being more popular than Henry. However, although it makes an attention-grabbing fact, it isn't very necessary. It is enough to say that she was quite successful with David Simple, so I won't revert or argue for the comparison.
As for the "not published until 1764": I have no idea why an anonymous editor wanted to put that in. I had never heard it, and I thought that Volume the Last was published during Sarah's lifetime and at her own discretion. Geogre 11:34, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
