Hieroglyphic tales
Details
Type of record: Book
Title: Hieroglyphic tales
Classmark: Bedford Collection A895
Creator(s): Walpole, Horace (1717-1797)
Additional creator(s): Bedford, John Victor (1941-2019) (Former owner)
Publisher: Pallas Athene
Publication city: London
Date(s): 2010
Language: English
Size and medium: 77 pages
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/740049
Printed items catalogue: https://leeds.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?vid=44LEE_INST:VU1&docid=alma991020005789105181
Description
Originally published in 1785.
Funny, absurd, satirical, and disturbing--these stories are Horace Walpole's most original, yet least known writings These short tales can claim to be the first surrealist writings in English--and remain some of the strangest fiction in all literature. They were originally published in 1785 in an edition of six copies, all of which Walpole kept for himself. An extra story is included, which was preserved only in manuscript. Truly bizarre, Walpole's stories defy the fictional conventions of his day, beginning with an often-imitated mock preface explaining that the stories were undoubtedly written a little before the creation of the world, and have ever since been preserved, by oral tradition, in the mountains of Crampcraggiri, an uninhabited island, not yet discovered.
Provenance
Leeds University Library copy at Bedford Collection A895: From the John Evan Bedford Library, gifted in 2019. Twenty-first-century pictorial bookplate on front pastedown: John Evan Bedford. Former reference: MS/52.
Access and usage
Access
This material is not subject to restrictions under Data Protection or other relevant legislation that might limit access. However, other protections, such as donor conditions or conservation considerations, may still apply where advised.