Description: THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO : A GOTHIC STORY. BY HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. ____________ L O N D O N : RICHARD BENTLEY 1834. DESCRIPTION (ii) + 121pp – 250pp+ (ii) Book measures 165mm x 110mm approximately. Page numbering starts at 121 although the book seems to contain all relevant and necessary pages including memoir of the life of Walpole, critical remarks, preface to the second edition and the story itself. Bound in full tan calf. Spine with four gilt-ruled bands with interesting ‘gothic’ style decoration to compartments and light brown title label. Double gilt fillet borders to both boards with blind-tooled cornices. Marbled end-papers and paste-downs. Tissue-guarded portrait frontispiece to title page verso. All page edges marbled. CONDITION The binding is holding quite firm. Front board hinge is slightly cracked at both ends and a little weaker. Some general wear to hinges and board edges, a few random minor nicks and scuffs, some small surface marks and scratches, and with bumping to board corners. Internally the pages are uniformly mildly age-toned throughout. Title pages, front end-papers and portrait frontispiece are more heavily spotted. One front end-paper has neat lengthy hand-written ink notes on the book and author and also mentions the 250 page numbering as a known edition. Please always refer to photo images for a clearer indication of condition. We are always happy to provide further photo images if required. INTERESTING Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (1717 to 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, and his Letters, which are of significant social and political interest. The Castle of Otranto was first published in 1764, 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. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetic of the book has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music, and the goth subculture. Walpole was inspired to write the story after a nightmare he had at Strawberry Hill House. Claiming he saw a ghost in the nightmare which featured a "gigantic hand in armour". Walpole incorporated imagery from this into the novel and drew on his knowledge of medieval history.
Price: 150 GBP
Location: York
End Time: 2025-01-03T15:35:28.000Z
Shipping Cost: 43.59 GBP
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