The Heroine; or Adventures of a Fair Romance Reader

London, 1813. First Edition. —the subtitle was changed in the 2nd edition. 3 vols. A few small, faint spots to the back cover of vol. II (the only flaw) else fine and unworn, brighter than a Hollywood smile, in a royal binding of early 19th century green cloth (ca. 1835), the spines elaborately gilt, with the Royal Arms of Britain and Hanover embossed on the covers (the King of England’s family arms, though traceable to his brother Ernst). No half-titles in vols. II and III but with the vol. III ads. Unlike many pre–Victorian novels, this one is a laudable read, and scarce in any condition. 3 sets sold at auction in the last 35 years, all of them piñata quality (one a clunky modern rebind, one in old but nasty half calf, and one in worn and dull half morocco). Ours is all but unbelievable in this spectacular state of preservation with this impeccable provenance. Coll: xx, 224. [2], 239 [blank]. [2], 302 [2pp. ads]. Ref: Barron, Horror Lit. 1-5. This is not an obscure book. Note it’s reference as one of Barron’s foundation books of all horror literature written from 1762 to 1824. The Heroine’s thrust is not quite comic, though it does have droll jeopardy and the fall of dignity, and it’s not quite gothic though it does have granite skies, howling winds, and an old manor with secret passages and a sketchy deed. but rather it is the first pure and unabashed satire of horror literature with something of both, anticipating Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818), yet drawing in other ways from Cervantes Don Quixote (1605) and Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749). The heroine, Cherry Wilkinson, rejects her rural life and adopts the identities of the fictional female characters she admires from reading Gothic novels (think of 21st century little girls who fantasize about being Wonder Woman). Barrett sets her in the kind of chaos usually found in newspaper articles that end with the words, “...and then he turned the gun on himself,” commencing a series of picaresque adventures, some of them previously unprecedented in literature. Cherry starts out optimistic (convinced that all will be well) and grows to have faith (certain that things make sense regardless of how they turn out), and she discovers that it’s hard to be a woman but even harder to become one. And if you think we just hype these books without cause, here’s some bubbling enthusiasm from a knowing and contemporary reviewer:

“I finished The Heroine last night and was very much amused by it...It diverted me exceedingly...I have torn through the third volume...I do not think it falls off. It is a delightful burlesque particularly on the Radcliffe style.” —Jane Austen

And from a critique revisiting it a few years later:
“Racy, dashing, and palpable.” —Edgar Allan Poe.