1778 The Old English Baron: Clara Reeve
This story was first published in 1777 under the title
The Champion of Virtue. It was
republished the next year as The Old
English Baron, following revisions by the author’s friend, Mrs Bridgen, who
was the daughter of the author Samuel Richardson. A dedication thanking Mrs Bridgen, dated
Sept. 1, 1780, was printed in many subsequent editions. The second paragraph of
the author’s preface states:
“The Story is the literary offspring of The Castle of Otranto, written upon the
same plan...”
The book was very popular
in its day and many editions were published, although Clara Reeve was not
generally well regarded. Sir Walter Scott famously said of her dialogue that it
was “sometimes tense and tedious, not to say mean and tiresome.”
The ninth edition, printed in London by Law and
Gilbert in 1811 for a group of six London booksellers is my highly desirable
edition, as it is “Embellished with eight elegant engravings”. This edition
also contains the original preface by Clara Reeve and her dedication to Mrs Bridgen.
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