Gambling permeated the daily lives of eighteenth-century Britons of all classes. This book explicates the relationship between the rampant gambling in eighteenth-century England, the new forms of gambling-inspired capitalism that transformed British society, and novels that interrogate the new socio-economy of long odds and lucky breaks.

'Richard has constructed a conceptually sophisticated intertwining of historical analysis of the eighteenth-century culture of gambling with a series of effective readings of novels and visual images. This is a fine book on the culture of eighteenth century gambling that speaks eloquently to the stakes of our present time.' - Ross Hamilton, Associate Professor of English, Columbia University, USA

'...an immensely engaging argument that explores gambling through an impressive breadth of topics; this work would be of interest to anyone looking at the rise of the novel especially as tied to culture, finance, and the economy.' - Kate Scarth, University of Warwick, BARS Bulletin & Review

Autorentext
JESSICA RICHARD is Associate Professor of English at Wake Forest University, USA. She has published articles on Rasselas, Belinda, and Frankenstein. She is the editor of The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (Broadview, 2008).

Inhalt
List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: The Gambling Culture of Eighteenth-Century Britain 'Putting to Hazard a Certainty': Lotteries and the Romance of Gambling in Eighteenth-Century England (Sir Charles Grandison, The Excursion) Cheating, Calculation, and the Episodic Romance of Gambling (Hoyle's Short Treatise , Ferdinand Count Fathom, Amelia ) The Gambling Man of Feeling: Sublime and Sentimental Gambling ( Cecilia, The Adventures of David Simple, The Mysteries of Udolpho ) The Lady's Last Stake: Camilla and the Female Gambler Children's Games 'Abroad and at Home': Belinda, Education, and Empire The Confidence Man: Persuasion and the Romance of Risk Afterword: The Eighteenth-Century Risk Society Works Cited Index