The novel was a success all over Europe, and the poet Thomas Gray commented in a letter to Walpole that it made ‘some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o’nights. The Castle of Otranto blends elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical, laying down many of the plot devices and character-types that would become typical of the Gothic: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, hidden identities and vulnerable heroines fleeing from men with evil intent. Faced with the extinction of his line, Manfred vows to divorce his wife and marry the terrified Isabella himself. The novel begins with the death of Manfred’s son, Conrad, who is crushed to death by an enormous helmet on the morning of his wedding to the beautiful princess Isabella. It tells the story of Manfred, the prince of Otranto, who is keen to secure the castle for his descendants in the face of a mysterious curse. Its first edition, published in 1764, claimed to be a translation of a work printed in Naples in 1529 and newly discovered in the library of ‘an ancient Catholic family in the north of England’. Butler from H.V.V., Feby 16, 80.ĬHMRB copy has perforated stamp on endpapers: Cooper Union Library accession no.: 90,1002.ĬHMRB copy has later brown buckram library binding with gilt-lettered spine and blue speckled edges.The Castle of Otranto, by Horace Walpole, is generally viewed as the first Gothic novel. ink inscription on the verso of the frontispiece: Mary B. Gift of John McCutcheon and Carmen Agra Deedy.ĬHMRB copy 39088010284008 is imperfect: the half-title leaf is wanting.ĬHMRB copy has an old ms. SCDIRB copy has bookplate: Smithsonian Institution Libraries. The castle has a mysterious past, and secret underground passages that lead to a church. The Castle of Otranto includes an old castle which is passed down through the ages from family member to family member. 61 for a discussion of these and similar plates. Such element of gothic novel is that the setting takes place in a castle. da una dama, Birril incisit Londra 1 Genno. SCDIRB copy has laid in: three loose color-printed engraved plates showing scenes illustrative of the Castle of Otranto ('Gerolamo ed Ippolita,' 'Teodoro e Matilda,' and 'Teodoro ed Isabella'), signed: delto. SCDIRB copy has some pencil corrections in the margins throughout. SCDIRB copy has a second version of the frontispiece plate (state 'a' in Hazen) bound in following p.

SCDIRB copy 39088010284024 has a fore-edge painting, showing three people standing in a rural landscape with two houses in the background.

and Hazen's state 'b' of the frontispiece. SCDIRB and CHMRB each have one copy both copies have the 2nd state of the t.p.

Signatures: pi4 1-4⁴ a-2h⁴ (leaves pi1 and 2h4 are blank). The frontispiece is engraved by Barlow, after a drawing by Reveley. First published anonymously in 1765 written by Horace Walpole in the guise of Marshal and Muralto.įor a full description concerning the various cancels, see Hazen.

The castle of otranto a gothic story