16 h 59 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 16 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the worst traveling companion is also the person with the most generous heart?
Matthew Bramble leaves Wales in search of better health, but peace is hard to find. Bath offers crowds and display; London leaves him gasping. In Tobias Smollett’s The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, the irritable squire travels with a family whose quarrels, courtships, and complaints make every stop an adventure.
The story unfolds entirely in letters. Jery Melford watches with amusement, Lydia longs for love, Tabitha seeks a husband, and Winifred Jenkins dreams of a more fashionable life. Their accounts turn the same events in different directions. When the poor, honest Humphry Clinker enters the family’s service, his loyalty offers a contrast to the pretensions around them.
What you’ll discover
- Five wonderfully clashing voices See how one journey becomes several stories as each traveler puts pen to paper.
- Britain beyond the drawing room Step into crowded spas, disappointing inns, muddy roads, and the streets of Edinburgh.
- A temper worth looking beneath Meet a squire whose fierce complaints conceal a generous heart and sharp eye.
- Wit with a sharp edge Enjoy satire that pricks class pretensions, fashionable cures, and the gap between appearance and worth.
- Kindness amid the commotion Follow Humphry Clinker as his honesty, courage, and loyalty bring warmth to the family’s travels.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love travel, letters and comic characters, and who enjoy a grumbling hero with a kind heart.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A bundle of letters and a doubtful editor
- A quarrel at Gloucester sets the family moving
- At the Hot Well, a gruff squire shows his heart
- Bath is all noise, show and quarrel
- Bath society mixes fools, wits and good friends
- On the road, Humphry Clinker appears in rags
- London brings spectacle, flattery and a curious highwayman
- The northern roads bring Lismahago and a sharper comedy
- Scotland opens Bramble's mind and softens his temper
- The letters teach the reader how to read people
Who’s who
- Matthew BrambleA gouty Welsh squire who grumbles at the world, gives to the poor in secret and wants only peace for himself and his family.
- Jery MelfordBramble's young nephew from Oxford, quick to judge and quick to laugh, who guards his sister's honour and watches everyone.
- Lydia MelfordJery's gentle sister, seventeen and romantic, who loves a young actor she met at a play and tries to forget him.
- Tabitha BrambleBramble's vain, bony, quarrelsome sister, who dotes on her dog and will try any man in her search for a husband.
- Winifred JenkinsTabitha's maid, pious and vain, who writes letters full of comic mistakes and is courted by more than one man.
- Humphry ClinkerA starving, ragged postilion taken into the household, who is simple, brave and full of faith, and who wants to serve.
- Lieutenant Obadiah LismahagoA proud, scarred Scottish officer on half pay, endlessly argumentative, who makes Tabitha's heart beat and Bramble's temper rise.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Expedition of Humphry Clinker
by Tobias Smollett · 1771
A gouty Welsh squire, his fierce sister and two young wards travel by coach, each letter offering a different view.
Challenging10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What happens when a man who hates crowds takes his family on a coach tour of Britain, with a gouty foot, a short temper and a sister who is hunting for a husband? That is the setup of The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, the last novel of Tobias Smollett, which appeared in 1771, the year he died.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 45 min7 h 45 min fast, 11 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 139,800 words59 chapters
- Pages
- 417 pages629 in large print
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1771by Tobias Smollett
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A bundle of letters and a doubtful editor
The book opens before the travellers appear. A clergyman named Jonathan Dustwich writes to a London bookseller, Henry Davis, about a bundle of letters he wants printed. He promises to take all legal blame on himself, though he would rather not be flogged.
The bookseller answers in a dry, businesslike voice. He says that writing is a lottery and that the public is tired of travel books. The frame pokes fun at the book trade and at authors who pretend to be modest.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1771
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 11 h 5 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expedition-of-humphry-clinker.
Smollett, T. (2026). The expedition of Humphry Clinker. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expedition-of-humphry-clinker (Original work published 1771)
Smollett, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expedition-of-humphry-clinker.
@book{smollett2026expedition,
author = {Smollett, Tobias},
title = {The Expedition of Humphry Clinker},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-expedition-of-humphry-clinker},
note = {First published 1771}
}
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What is The Expedition of Humphry Clinker about?
It follows a Welsh squire, Matthew Bramble, his sister, nephew and niece, and their servants as they travel through Bristol, Bath, London, Yorkshire and Scotland. The story is told in letters, with comic scenes, love stories and sharp views of the age.
Who is Humphry Clinker?
Clinker is a ragged young postilion whom Bramble helps at Marlborough and later accepts into his household. He is simple, kind and religious, and his loyalty to the family grows as the journey goes on. The novel is named for him.
Why is the book told in letters?
Smollett uses letters so each traveller can give a different view of the same event. Bramble complains, Jery observes, Lydia feels, Tabitha scolds and Winifred misspells. The mix shows how character shapes what people see.
The author
Tobias Smollett
Scottish novelist
T. Smollett — Tobias Smollett — was a Scottish novelist whose service as a naval surgeon fed directly into his fiction. The Adventures of Roderick Random, his first novel, follows a rough-and-tumble young Scot through shipwrecks, swindles, and the brutal world of the Royal Navy.
More by Tobias Smollett
See all their booksMore like this
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