The Adventures of Rodrick Random

Rodrick Random, the son of a wealthy gentleman and a poor maid, was foretold to become a great traveler, but his life would be full of dangers and misfortunes. Taking "Don Quixote" as a basis and turning it inside out... in the manner of the crafty "Gil Blas", the Scotsman Smollett, a former ship's doctor and participant in a semi-pirate raid on Cartagena, endowed his hero-countryman with some traits from his tumultuous biography.
"And taking provisions in a bundle," along with his brisk servant-friend, our Rodrick set off on travels through towns and villages. What happened to him is the subject of a whole book. And it even comes with illustrations by two great artist-illustrators. In the 19th century, every dog knew them (at least in London). Their names are Fiz and Cruikshank. They illustrated many works of Dickens. And Dickens, in turn, counted Smollett’s novels among his favorite books. Even two hundred years later, in the 20th century, George Orwell, speaking of Smollett, called "The Adventures of Rodrick Random" and "The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle" true masterpieces.
In the hands of the reader is not just a book by three classics, but a rather rare book. The last time it was published in our country was more than half a century ago, in 1949. Classics do not age and return again and again.