Minerva Press was a
publishing house
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
, noted for creating a lucrative market in sentimental and
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ...
in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It was established by
William Lane
William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was an English-born journalist, author, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian socialist ideologue.
Lane was born in Bristol, England into an impoverished family. After showi ...
(c. 1745–1814) at No 33
Leadenhall Street
__NOTOC__
Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road from London to Norwich, but that route now starts further east at ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, when he moved his
circulating library there in about 1790.
Publications
The Minerva Press was hugely successful in its heyday, though it had a reputation for sensationalism among readers and critics, and for sharp business practices among some of its competitors. Many of Lane's regular writers were women, including
Regina Maria Roche (''The Maid of Hamlet'', 1793; ''
Clermont'', 1798);
Eliza Parsons (''
The Castle of Wolfenbach'', 1793; ''
The Mysterious Warning
''The Mysterious Warning, a German Tale'' is a novel by the English gothic novelist Eliza Parsons. It was first published in 1796 and is one of the seven "horrid novels" lampooned in Jane Austen's '' Northanger Abbey''.
Dear creature! How mu ...
'', 1796);
E. M. Foster
E. M. Foster (fl. late 18th – early 19th c.) was a Romantic-era woman novelist. Some 14 popular novels of hers appeared in London between 1795 and 1810.Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds., ''The Feminist Companion to Lite ...
; and
Eleanor Sleath (''
The Orphan of the Rhine'', 1798) whose Gothic fiction is included in the list of seven "
horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in
Jane Austen's ''
Northanger Abbey
''Northanger Abbey'' () is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox's '' The Female Quixote'' (1752). ''Northanger Abbey'' was completed in 1803, the first ...
''. Six of the ''Northanger'' Seven were published by Minerva. It was still not quite the right thing for a lady to write books, and so many titles were published anonymously, including such novels as ''Count Roderic's Castle'' (1794), ''The Haunted Castle'' (1794), ''The Animated Skeleton'' (1798), the five novels of
Helen Craik, and ''The New Monk'' (1798), Authors such as
Emma Parker ("Emma de Lisle") and
Amelia Beauclerc
Amelia Beauclerc (1 January 1790 – 1 March 1820) was a British Gothic novelist.
Life
Beauclerc's life has been described as "invisible."
Writing
It has taken time to establish a complete bibliography for Beauclerk. Her first two novels, ''E ...
, who wrote for Minerva Press in the 1800s, are obscure today, and the market for Minerva's books became negligible after the death of its charismatic founder.
Lane was succeeded as proprietor of the Minerva Press by his partner, Anthony King (A. K.) Newman, who gradually dropped the Minerva name from his books' title pages during the 1820s. Later books published by the press bear the imprint "A. K. Newman & Co."
In the 20th century, the name Minerva Press has appeared at least once, unconnected with the original firm, i.e. Minerva Press, Delhi.
Valancourt Books reprints
Valancourt Books
Valancourt Books is an independent American publishing house founded by James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle in 2005. The company specializes in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction," in particular gay titles and Gothic and hor ...
began reprinting Minerva Press titles in 2005, beginning with the anonymously published ''The Animated Skeleton'' (1798). They have gone on to print over twenty of these titles, most with scholarly introductions.
Valancourt Books
Valancourt Books is an independent American publishing house founded by James Jenkins and Ryan Cagle in 2005. The company specializes in "the rediscovery of rare, neglected, and out-of-print fiction," in particular gay titles and Gothic and hor ...
br>Minerva Press titles.
/ref>
See also
* List of Minerva Press authors
* Northanger Horrid Novels
Notes
External links
Expanded history of Minerva Press
(about halfway down the page)
collated by Rob Wassell, author of ''REM'', published by Minerva Press
{{Authority control
Book publishing companies of the United Kingdom
Gothic fiction