Publisher's Synopsis
THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO (1764) stated the vogue for Gothic fiction with its mix of supernatural happenings, crimes of passion and wronged heir restored; horror story , mystery and , at the same time tantilisingly autobigrophical. THE HIEROGLYPHIC TALES (1785, a collection of surrealistic and eerily modern fables, first appeared in a unique edition printed on Walpole's own press, at his gothic house in Twickenham.