Edward Newton lectures on the novel

Edward Newton, a Philadelphia manufacturer and book collector, delivered a lecture on the history of novels to a huge audience of students and townspeople. Newton traced the development of the novel from the beginning and importance of the English novel. Newton identified the first book labeled as a novel to be Peter Buck's Love and Duty Reconciled in 1692 and Richardson's Pamela as the first English novel. Newton praised England's rich literary history and claimed that movies threaten this history.