The Old English Gothic

I’m truly delighted to report Valancourt Book’s publication of The Old English Baron by Clara Reeve. The boys at Valancourt have naturally outdone themselves again with their dedication, professionalism and knowledge of Gothic literature. Also included in their edition of The Baron is the complete text of John Broster’s 1799 dramatic adaptation of the novel, Edmond, [...]

Valancourt Books

In reference to the Northanger Canon I’ve often featured Valancourt Books on this site. Valancourt Books in an independent micro press that seeks out and publishes rare and often forgotten works from the past, including several titles in the Northanger Canon. The boys at Valancourt are doing great things for 18th century literature by editing [...]

La Terreur: The Northanger Canon

I’m so chuffed to find that three of the Northanger Canon titles have made their way onto Valancourt Books‘ bestsellers list for 2008.
The Northanger Canon is a selection of 18th century Gothic fiction immortalized by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. Other than the two Radcliffe works, the ‘horrid novels’ were belived to be a delightfully [...]

The Diodati Stories and Their Authors: Lord Byron

Diodati 1816
by By Robert Gordon
1963 
Byron and Shelley and Mary and Claire,
Braced by the grandeur and quick Alpine air,
Clustered themselves in a Genevese site,
Telling of spirits and ghosts in the night,
Byron was piqued by the whispering gloom;
Shelly had visions and ran from the room;
Claire became pregnant (her passion, his wine);
And Mary, bright Mary, begot Frankenstein.
[...]

Sublime Anxiety: The Northanger Canon

The Northanger Canon is the collection of late 18th century ‘horrid’ Gothic novels that feature in the first work that Austen sold to a publisher, Northanger Abbey.
The book itself, first written in 1798 but not published until 1817, is a defense of the novel as an art form, a celebratory sending up of Gothic fiction [...]