HIGHLAND HEROISM
Rare and sole edition of this chapbook adaptation of THE CASTLES OF ATHLIN AND DUNBAYNE, Ann Radcliffe's first novel.
Very good.
Price: $1,200.00
HIGHLAND HEROISM
Radcliffe did not invent the gothic novel, but she was the one who legitimized it. One contemporary reviewer called MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO "the most interesting novel in the English language." Others wrote that Radcliffe was an "enchantress," a "genius," and "unrivalled." (Byron was so taken with Radcliffe's description of Venice that he plagiarized it in CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE.) Critics associated her with Homer, Virgil, Milton, and Shakespeare. Yet today most readers first come across her best-known novel, UDOLPHO, in the pages of Austen's book NORTHANGER ABBEY. Austen's novel is an extended celebration of the joys of reading, with UDOLPHO as its primary example. "While I have UDOLPHO to read," her heroine says, "I feel as if nobody could make me miserable." The hero, Henry Tilney, adds that "when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days — my hair standing on end the whole time."
Abridged adaptations — typically unauthorized — were common for gothic romances and other action-driven novels, often made more sensational by their concentrated format. Publisher Thomas Tegg of the Eccentric Book Warehouse "had a short but intense relationship with the gothic pamphlet" that was "purely commercial" (Potter, 73; 75), taking advantage of the vogue for gothic stories. The adaptation of Radcliffe's first novel in this context is especially notable, as it was not especially popular when it was first issued: "THE CASTLES OF ATHLIN AND DUNBAYNE became more popular as the taste for the Gothic grew" (Norton, 58). The CRITICAL REVIEW had complained of the "vapid and servile imitations" that were appearing due to the "creative genius and the descriptive powers of Mrs. Radcliffe" — and "butchered" (Mayo) piracies like these were a major instigator of Radcliffe's canonical fall.
Read more: Mayo, "Gothic Romance in the Magazines," PMLA Vol. 65 No. 5; Potter, Gothic Chapbooks, Bluebooks and Shilling Shockers; Norton, Mistress of Udolpho.
The Object
London: Printed for Tegg and Castleman, at the Eccentric Book Warehouse, [1803]. Full title: Highland Heroism; or the castles of Glencoe and Balloch. A Scottish tale, of the sixteenth century. 12mo, 7'' x 4.25''. Early plain wrappers reinforced at spine. Illustrated with engraved frontispiece. [2], 36 pages. Moderate foxing and browning, with some marginal dampstaining.
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