The Old English Baron. A Gothic Story. Embellished With Elegant Engravings. The Sixth Edition; Printed for C. Dilly
London: printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry, MDCCXCVII [1797]. Early Reprint. Full Calf. Sixth Edition of Reeve's best-known work, a major influence on the development of Gothic fiction. 8vo: xi,[1],264pp, with 8 full-page copper-engraved plates (including frontispiece). English mottled calf, flat spine in six compartments, gilt sunburst medallion in each, separated by gilt-ruled bands, black leather lettering piece gilt, board edges decorated with gilt roll. Early, neat manuscript ex libris to front fly-leaf. An excellent, wide-margined example in a handsome contemporary binding, spotting on plates restricted to margins, pages virtually pristine. Summers, p. 449. Lowndes, IV, 2065 ("A romance of considerable repute, frequently reprinted."). Fine. Item #BB1537
First published anonymously at Colchester, in 1777, as The champion of virtue, then republished a year later with Reeve's name on the title page, as The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story. An ambitious reworking of Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto (or, as Reeve described it, "the literary offspring of the castle of Otranto"). "The story, like many of the time, concerns usurpation unmasked and legitimate succession restored by a hero resembling an idealized mid-eighteenth-century gentrified professional man. This fable continued to speak to the largely professional middle-class reading public. An eighth edition appeared in 1807, Anna Letitia Barbauld included it in her British Novelists (1810), and there were many further reprints throughout the century, when it was often paired with Walpole's Otranto." (ODNB) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Price: $424.00