The Castle of Otranto

Castle of Otranto, The;
A Gothic Story, by Horace Walpole , published 1764 , title-page 1765 .

The first of the true ‘Gothic’ novels , this was an immediate success, and has run to over 150 editions since its original publication. Walpole wrote of its composition, ‘I gave rein to my imagination; visions and passions choked me.’ The narrative is filled with ghosts, vaults, giants, living statues, mysterious appearances, and violent emotions of terror, anguish, and love. Walpole's fear of ridicule led him to publish the first edition anonymously, with an elaborate preface describing the author as ‘Onuphrio Muralto’, an Italian canon of Otranto, writing somewhere between the 11th and 13th cents.  Prince Manfred, the tyrant of Otranto, has a devoted wife, Hippolita; a son, Conrad; and a daughter, Matilda. At his wedding to Isabella of Vicenza, Conrad is crushed to death by a vast, black-plumed helmet, which belongs...

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