Collecting Gothic
Publishing houses like Minerva Press produced a vast range of Gothic titles in the 1700s and 1800s. About half of the authors that Minerva published were women writing under their own name – unusual compared with other genres of authorship. The novels appealed to and were marketed at a female readership. Writers such as Louisa Stanhope and Ann Radcliffe became household names, and enthusiasts purchased their novels for home reading.
The University holds a vast collection of Gothic novels, mostly acquired as a result of an Act of Parliament in 1709, which granted the University a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom. This collecting halted in 1836, following a Royal Commission report that deemed novels “trifling or pernicious”.
Louisa Stanhope was just one of the many female authors who found fame in their Gothic novels. She was one of the most productive novelists in Britain while she was active (1806-1827). This opening paragraph of her tale exhibits how the novels were a literature of performance, with frequent heightened emotional states. This lengthy opening paragraph sets the scene for the novel, drawing her readers in, eager to learn more about the fate of the character.
