1764 The Castle of Otranto: Horace Walpole
The Castle of Otranto is
generally recognised as the first Gothic novel.
The first edition was published
anonymously in 1764, and purported to be based on a sixteenth century
manuscript from Naples. It was quickly followed by a second edition, published
by William Bathoe and Thomas Lowndes in London in 1765 which contained a
preface by the author, acknowledging his authorship and explaining the genesis
of the book. It starts “ The favourable manner in which this little piece has
been received by the public, calls upon the author to explain the grounds on
which he composed it.” Sadly for Walpole, the critics, once the authorship had
been revealed, changed their minds and dismissed the book as romantic fiction.
I particularly like the Jeffrey’s
edition of 1796, which is the first edition to contain coloured illustrations.
An edition with black and white illustrations was also published in that year
by Jeffrey. The coloured picture above is the frontispiece from the Jeffrey edition.
My copy of the Jeffrey edition of 1786 of The Castle of Otranto with the coloured illustrations is on
display in the Dark Imaginings exhibition at the University of Melbourne. The title page is shown below.
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