SPL Hand Coloured Rare Book Collection Featuring Norman R Bobins

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MURALTO, Onuphrio.
The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story...

The Castle of Otranto is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – A Gothic Story. Set in a haunted castle, the novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The book's aesthetic has shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music, and the goth subculture. (Onuphrio Muralto is a pseudonym for Horace Walpole).

Published
London: Printed by Cooper and Graham, 1796.
Plates
7
Binding/Size
S=8vo
Value
0-5000
Published
London: Printed by Cooper and Graham, 1796.
Ref
121

Translated by William Marshal... from the original Italian of Muralto and illustrated with seven fine hand-coloured plates. xvi 152pp. Thin 8vo in contemporary mottled calf neatly re-cased in similar leather with burgundy spine label, speckled edges (light scattered foxing otherwise a very good+ copy in a handsome binding). A new edition - 'Jeffery's Edition' with unusual hand-coloured, stipple engraved plates printed within decorative gilt borders. MS signature of "N.H. Dawson, November 26, 1853." to free endpaper. Coloured plates in order: 1. Frontis. Castello di Otranto. 2. Isabella e Manfredi. 3. Teodoro ed Isabella. 4. Teodoro e Matilda. 5. Teodoro ed Isabella. 6. Federigo Teodoro ed Isabella. 7. Gerolamo ed Ippolita.