1782 The Castle of Otranto : A Gothic Story : Hugh Walpole : Fourth Edition

The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story

by Horace Walpole. Fourth edition, 1782.

London: Printed for J. Dodsley, I782. Fourth edition. 8vo. xxiv, 200pp.

A fourth edition (1782) of English novelist Horace Walpole's seminal The Castle of Otranto, first published in April 1765 in a run of 500 copies and commonly designated the first Gothic novel in English literature. The novel purports to be a 16th-century Italian work by "Onuphrio Muralto" translated by "William Marshall," perhaps in an attempt by Walpole to shield himself from public scrutiny. The fourth edition is a page-for-page reprint of the third edition, and it includes Walpole's "Preface to the Second Edition" calling the novel "an attempt to blend the two kinds of Romance" and featuring a cantankerous take-down of Voltaire, which Walpole later regretted writing. As printed in the fourth edition, the preface retains the infamous misspelling of Hamlet's "Rosercrantz" as "Rosencraus" on p. xxiii. 

CONDITION
In overall very good condition, with some rubbing to the original calf and minor worming to the frontmatter. Pages good throughout. Overall good.

(Desk / Lower Shelf / Middle)