A Sicilian Romance.
RADCLIFFE, Anne.
A Sicilian Romance.
Rare first American edition of Anne Radcliffe's A Sicilian Romance
Philadelphia: Printed For Henry and Patrick Rice, 1795.
$2,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: 151221
First American edition of Radcliffe’s classic 18th century gothic novel. Octavo, bound in full contemporary calf, morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt ruling to the spine. In good condition. Chip to the spine label, G1 & 2 tear at head within text, with minor loss, Q1 torn and stained at foot, with loss of text, Q2 stained and chipped, with obscuring of a few letters, U1 tear just within text. Very rare with ESTC recording four copies, of which two at the American Antiquarian Society, others at NYPL and Yale.
First published in America in 1795, A Sicilian Romance quickly established Anne Radcliffe’s reputation with transatlantic readers and contributed to the consolidation of the Gothic novel as a prominent literary form in the late eighteenth century. Situated within a decaying Sicilian aristocratic household, the novel exemplified the Gothic mode’s sustained engagement with terror, sensibility, and moral inquiry. Through a carefully structured and progressively unfolding plot, Radcliffe deployed characteristic Gothic conventions—including the tyrannical patriarch, the persecuted heroine, and the labyrinthine castle—to examine the structures of patriarchal authority and the constrained conditions of female agency. Central to Radcliffe’s technique was her use of the “explained supernatural,” whereby apparently preternatural phenomena were ultimately resolved through rational explanation. This strategy not only sustained suspense but also reaffirmed the primacy of empirical reasoning and moral order, aligning the Gothic aesthetic with Enlightenment epistemologies rather than positioning it in simple opposition to them. At the same time, Radcliffe’s detailed descriptions of landscape functioned as more than ornamental backdrop; they operated as externalizations of psychological states, reinforcing the novel’s investment in interiority and affect.
