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Windsor Castle
Hardcover
Publisher: Bibliotech Press
Published: Feb 11 2025
Pages: 284
Weight: 1.13
Height: 0.88 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Windsor Castle is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1842. It is a historical romance with gothic elements that depicts Henry VIII's pursuit of Anne Boleyn. Intertwined with the story are the actions of Herne the Hunter, a legendary ghost that haunts Windsor woods.
W H Horne, in A New Spirit of the Age, claims that Ainsworth's so-called historical romance of 'Windsor Castle' is not to be regarded as a work of literature open to serious criticism. It is a picture book, and full of very pretty pictures. Also full of catalogues of numberless suits of clothes. Such a passion, indeed, he has for describing clothes, that he frequently gives us two suits with a single body [...] As to plot or story it does not pretend to any.
In 1911, S. M. Ellis claims that Windsor Castle was thus a great success; and it is still very popular. This is not to be wondered at, for, despite some faults in construction, it is one of Ainsworth's most fascinating works [...] More powerfully still did he interpret the mystery of trees in this romance [...] Most skilfully, too, he adapted and revivified for the purposes of his woodland romance the ancient and weirdly picturesque legend of Herne the Hunter. Ellis continues by claiming that Windsor Castle is one of the best examples of Ainsworth's skill in combining a vivid and exciting narrative with wealth of historical detail and scenic description, the whole interwoven with supernatural events in the most natural manner, so much so that it is difficult to say where the mundane ends and the occult begins. It was an art quite peculiar to this author, who, by the force and interest of his narrative, compels the reader to accept his supernatural beings and improbable events as a necessary and essential part of the dramatic work in hand. George Worth, in 1972, focuses on the winding plots and gaps that Ainsworth leaves behind as he says, Despite the basic unity of the novel, then, we have the feeling that Ainsworth allows himself to stray too often from the main, broad track of his narrative and to abandon his reader at the end of little trails that lead nowhere. In 2003, Stephen Carver claims that the novel's depiction of Herne is Ainsworth at his gothic best, rivalling Lewis, Maturin and even Byron. Herne effortlessly steals every scene in which he appears, much as he steals souls. (wikipedia.org)
14 different editions
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Windsor Castle: An Historical Romance. [With Three Plates by G. Cruikshank.]
Ainsworth, William Harrison
Cruikshank, George
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Windsor Castle: An Historical Romance
Ainsworth, William Harrison
Johannot, Tony
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Ainsworth's Novels: With all the Original Illus. by George Cruikshank and Others
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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James the Second, Or, the Revolution of 1688, Ed. [Really Written] by W.H. Ainsworth
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Rookwood. By: William Harrison Ainsworth (NOVEL ) a historical and gothic romance (Illustrated) by: George Cruikshank and Sir John Gilbert
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Jack Sheppard; a romance. By: William Harrison Ainsworth ( Newgate NOVEL based on the real life of the 18th-century criminal ) (Illustrated)
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Guy Fawkes; or, The gunpowder treason, an historical romance. By: William Harrison Ainsworth ( NOVEL )
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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The Lancashire witches, a romance of Pendle forest. By: William Harrison Ainsworth, illustrated By: Sir John Gilbert (21 July 1817 - 5 October 1897).:
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Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Auriol; or, The elixir of life By: William Harrison Ainsworth, illustrated By: Hablot Knight Browne(10 July 1815 - 8 July 1882) his pen name, Phiz.: H
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Ainsworth, William Harrison
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The Tower of London; an historical romance By: William Harrison Ainsworth: It is a historical romance that describes the history of Lady Jane Grey fro
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Ovingdean Grange: a tale of the South Downs (1860). By: William Harrison Ainsworth, illustrated By: Hablot K. Browne: Novel (Original Cl
Browne, Hablot K.
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Cardinal Pole; or, The days of Philip and Mary, an historical romance. By: William Harrison Ainsworth, illustrated By: Gilbert, Frederick, fl. 1862-18
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Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 38
Dickens, Charles
Cruikshank, George
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Cardinal Pole: Or, The Days Of Philip And Mary. An Historical Romance; Volume 1
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Bentley's Miscellany, Volume 5
Cruikshank, George
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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The Lord Mayor of London, Or, City Life in the Last Century, Volumen II
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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The Tower of London ... Illustrated by George Cruikshank. Fifth Edition
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Cardinal Pole; Or, The Days of Philip and Mary
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Dickens, Charles
Maxwell, W. H. (William Hamilton)
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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New Monthly Magazine
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton
Ainsworth, William Harrison
Hall, Samuel Carter
Paperback
New Monthly Magazine
Hall, Samuel Carter
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Ainsworth, William Harrison
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Talbot Harland. With Port of Charles II, After the Painting by Sir Peter Lely, and Three Etchings by Eugène-And
Ainsworth, William Harrison
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