First edition of Radcliffe’s last and posthumously published novel, in which she does away with her use of the explained supernatural altogether.
At the height of her popularity Ann Radcliffe stopped having her work published, after the appearance of The Italian in 1797, but she did not stop writing, hence this posthumously published novel. There is a great deal of speculation as to why she stopped. In Talfourd’s short memoir prefixed to this edition, he suggests that she was no longer dependant on additional income because she had come into some inheritance. However, “Given that the same sources indicate that Ann Radcliffe began writing for pleasure, it hardly seems credible that she stopped because of her wealth […] Ann Radcliffe’s sensitivity to criticism appears to provide a more likely explanation. When her third romance was published in 1791, her style of writing was still relatively novel; by the mid-1790s, the market was awash with Radcliffe’s imitators. Although Radcliffe herself was untouchable, those who followed her were subject to a great deal of derision. Moreover, the reviewers began to undermine Radcliffe herself, through insinuation, innuendos, and faint praise. While they did not attack her on political grounds, apart from the Jacobinical smear of being at the head of ‘terrorist novel writing’, critics did accuse her of subverting norms of gender and genre and of making such basic errors as suspending tripods from ceilings.” (ODNB).
A very good set, slightly faded, boards and extremities a little rubbed.
