Ecologies of the Page: Text and Textile in the "Papers" of Pamela.

This article examines Samuel Richardson's epistolary novel *Pamela* through the lens of eighteenth-century rag paper and material culture, emphasizing the ecological and intermedial relationships between text, textile, and body. It highlights how the rag paper—made from linen and cotton rags—used both in the novel’s physical pages and in Pamela’s fictional letters embodies a tactile, agentic presence that shapes reading practices and narrative formation. The study argues that Pamela’s sewing and writing practices are co-constitutive, with her letters physically integrated into her garments, reflecting the intertwined labor of women in textile and papermaking industries. By foregrounding the materiality and sensory engagement of rag paper, the article calls for a reconsideration of the novel’s textual agency and the gendered, often overlooked labor embedded in book production during the period.