1840 Scarce illustrated Edition - The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story Set in a haunted castle by Horace Walpole.
(Description)
Author: Horace Walpole.
Title: The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story.
Publisher: London, Joseph Thomas, Finch Lane, Cornhill, 1840.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5" X 5".
Pages: xvi-142 pages + publisher's catalog.
Binding: Very good later fine three-quarter brown calf leather binding, with gilt decorations on the spine, gilt titles, and raised bands (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright and tight, armorial bookplate of Henry Bicknell on the front pastedown and a second intricate Ex Libris plate for "Charles Ricksher" on the rear endpaper - as shown, some light foxing and staining mainly on preliminary and last pages - as shown).
Illustrations: Illustrated vignette with a portrait of the author, Horace Walpole, on the title page and various intricate headpieces and tailpieces within the text.
Estimate: (Scarce with no or few other copies of this illustrated edition available for sale worldwide).
The book: Scarce illustrated edition of The Castle of Otranto -- a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – "A Gothic Story". The novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetics of the book-shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music, and the goth subculture. This 1840 edition features a memoir of the author and presents Walpole's story in a more refined format compared to earlier editions, as noted in the publisher's advertisement.
The author: Horace Walpole (1717–1797), 4th Earl of Orford, was an English writer, art historian, and politician, most famous for this pioneering gothic novel. His novel "The Castle of Otranto" was originally published in 1764 and is often cited as the beginning of the gothic genre in literature.