Beautiful Gothic Horror -- 1976 Castle of Otranto

The FS just released their Frankenstein LE for £300, assuming you are in the UK. Americans are forced to pay 50% more... but why? WHY pay so much, when an absolutely amazing and gorgeous FS publication can be in your hands for a tiny fraction of that cost!

I am of course referring to the amazing 1976 publication of the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves --






Letterpress publication! Hand-marbled. Beautiful lithographs. Did I pay a fortune for this? Well, $15-20. And I purchased it within the past year.

An underappreciated gem.

Perhaps not immediately obvious from these pictures, but the laid paper is also quite satisfying.

Walpole was a character as well. While the plot of Otranto might not resonate quite as effectively as Frankenstein, Dark Souls fans might enjoy some of the scenes.

Horace Walpole was a surprisingly influential man with Otranto helping to strengthen the Gothic Revival and his own designed home Strawberry Hill House - which is in Twickenham and is open to the public - being much admired. He seems to have been a most talented and artistic man ... and a rather surprising son of the first 'Prime Minister' Sir Robert Walpole.

That's a great illustration of a key scene, and consider me moderately enabled.

>1 astropi: Have you read it? It's hilariously bad writing. I read it in its very charming FS livery and then, after much cringeing and disbelief at its melodramatic awfulness, promptly got rid of it. I'm unsurprised it has the lowly rating of 3.18 on Goodreads.

>5 cronshaw:

It's eye-rolling, to be sure. But the tropes of the Gothic genre are well represented, remarkable how many Walpole dreamt up. I consider it an amusing read, chuckling as I read along.

Having written that, I think I've persuaded myself to a Hallowe'en re-reading. Admittedly, this doesn't invite regular or frequent re-reading, I really do have to be in the right mood.

>6 elenchus:
All Gothic fiction is absurd, but it can be fun. As The Guardian said:

“The Castle of Otranto is widely regarded as the first Gothic novel, and, with its knights, villains, wronged maidens, haunted corridors and things that go bump in the night, is the spiritual godfather of Frankenstein and Dracula, the creaking floorboards of Edgar Allan Poe and the shifting stairs and walking portraits of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts.”

>1 astropi: The FS just released their Frankenstein LE for £300...

For those with their hearts still set on the original Frankenstein, may I suggest the unsanitized 1818 text, illus. Barry Moser, 1984 reprint (of 1983 Pennyroyal Press Ed.) by University of California Press published in both hardback and paperback. I believe the hardback with dust jacket comes in 2 versions - the standard and the California deluxe edition.

>5 cronshaw: By our standards it's melodramatic and sure, it has a certain "corniness" to it. At the end of the day, it's still a classic and highly influential. Also, the whole presentation of the FS edition is gorgeous. Did I mention it's about $15 :)

Also, while it was years since I read Frankenstein, I honestly have no real interest in reading it again. Heck, let's look at a few lines to see just how corny it also is -

Farewell, sweet lady, dearest Elizabeth, my beloved and only friend; may heaven in its bounty bless and preserve you; may this be the last misfortune that you will ever suffer.

I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear.

Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?

>9 astropi: Well, I just bought a copy, so we will see how it goes!

>9 astropi: I only bought and read Otranto because it had been Folio-ed and I liked the pretty binding. It is a charming volume, I can't fault the binding and the illustrations are evocative (considerably better than the text).

I can usually trust Folio in their literary choices and am incredibly grateful to FS for introducing me to lots of authors I previously knew nothing about or wouldn't have thought to give a go. Unfortunately Otranto is in my tiny category of Folio reading (as opposed to binding, illustration, typography etc.) disappointments. Others I can recall are William McGonagall (the less said the better), Vile Bodies (virtually plotless and not very funny for a comic novel) and American Gods (not my cup of tea).

>9 astropi: You might think Frankenstein 'corny', I believe that it is a very fine depiction of the internal turmoil and suffering of those who are 'other' and shunned, belittled or mocked by those who consider themselves to be normal. "I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear." You only have to look at the number of high-profile stalking cases to see this mindset played out. Walpole, on the other hand, meh.

>1 astropi: Good lord. I may have to track one of those down at some point just because of how pretty it is.

>1 astropi: Looks like one I may have to hunt up. I do enjoy Gothic fiction and can usually excuse its excesses. That this is letterpress makes it all the more desirable.

Ordered a ‘very good’ one yesterday via Abe delivered for USD 25.30. Such a deal.

I've always thought the paper sides on this one were ugly as sin 😂

>12 HuxleyTheCat: Most people in their life have been "belittled or mocked" at points. I am part of a racial minority here in the USA, so perhaps I can speak more to that than most. That said, thoughts of "revenge" and "injury" are juvenile. Now if you're saying that the Monster is meant to be juvenile I can certainly believe that. However, I feel that once you're a bit older you have a better perspective in life. At any rate, the dialogue can and will certainly mean different things to different people. However, in my mind the dialogue is and will remain "corny". Maybe not as corny as Castle, but corny - and that's not necessarily a "bad" thing :)

>13 whytewolf1: It really is a beautiful book.

>15 DanielOC: It's almost a crime how inexpensive these are, especially compared to the prices we have to pay for new FS editions!

>16 gmacaree: While not anything spectacular, I certainly would never call it "ugly" - I think they're a nice hunter's green color.

>17 astropi: "Juvenile"? No, but a child? Certainly. A child with the physical attributes of an adult, craving love and affection but receiving the opposite. Of course, wishing to inflict revenge and injury can be part of that mindset. When I read, I try and empathise with the characters, and I am not ashamed to say that I was brought to tears more than once reading Frankenstein, likewise Notre Dame de Paris, likewise The Toilers of the Sea.

>1 astropi: I have the 1975 Limited Editions Club version of The Castle of Otranto, which I'm reading now. I think it's even nicer than the 1976 FS edition. The spine is almost identical, but the illustrations are contemporary watercolors from Walpole's collection, and there is an introduction by W.S. Lewis, who had the dubious distinction of being the world's foremost expert on all things Walpole.

Caved in and ordered a copy of this, thanks for the recommendation!