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Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story » (Unabridged, Thrift Edition)

Book cover image of Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story by Horace Walpole

Authors: Horace Walpole
ISBN-13: 9780486434124, ISBN-10: 0486434125
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Dover Publications
Date Published: March 2004
Edition: Unabridged, Thrift Edition

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Author Biography: Horace Walpole

Horace Walpole (1717-1797), Fourth Earl of Oxford, was the son of the Whig prime minister Robert Walpole. In 1774 he moved to Strawberry Hill in Twickenham, which he transformed into his "little Gothic castle."

Book Synopsis

First published pseudonymously in 1764, The Castle of Otranto purported to be a translation of an Italian story of the time of the crusades. In it Walpole attempted, as he declared in the Preface to the Second Edition, "to blend the two kinds of romance: the ancient and the modern." Crammed with invention, entertainment, terror, and pathos, the novel was an immediate success and Walpole's own favorite among his numerous works. The novel is reprinted here from a text of 1798, the last that Walpole himself prepared for the press.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Horace Walpole and The Castle of Otrantovii
The Castle of Otranto
Sir Walter Scott's Introduction3
Preface to the First Edition17
Preface to the Second Edition21
The Castle of Otranto27

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