The Lancashire Witches


Book Description







Delphi Collected Works of William Harrison Ainsworth (Illustrated)


Book Description

The friend and rival of Dickens, William Harrison Ainsworth was a prolific historical novelist, whose works helped changed the course of Victorian literature. This comprehensive eBook presents the largest collection of Ainsworth’s works ever compiled in a single edition, with numerous illustrations, rare texts appearing in digital print for the first time, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 2) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Ainsworth’s life and works * Concise introductions to the novels * 23 novels, with individual contents tables * Many rare novels appearing in digital print for the first time, including Ainsworth’s first novel SIR JOHN CHIVERTON, available nowhere else * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Many novels are fully illustrated with their original artwork * Includes Ainsworth’s ballads and early short stories * Easily locate the poems or short stories you want to read * Features a brief biography * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres * UPDATED with three novels (‘Cardinal Pole’; ‘The Constable de Bourbon’; ‘Chetwynd Calverley’), two short stories and improved texts CONTENTS: The Novels Sir John Chiverton (1826) Rookwood (1834) Jack Sheppard (1839) The Tower of London (1840) Guy Fawkes (1840) Old St Paul’s (1841) The Miser’s Daughter (1842) Windsor Castle (1842) The Lancashire Witches (1849) Auriol (1850) The Star-Chamber (1854) The Life and Adventures of Mervyn Clitheroe (1858) Ovingdean Grange (1860) Cardinal Pole (1863) The Constable de Bourbon (1866) Talbot Harland (1870) Tower Hill (1871) Boscobel (1871) The Good Old Times (1873) Preston Fight (1875) The Leaguer of Lathom (1876) Chetwynd Calverley (1876) Stanley Brereton (1881) The Shorter Fiction The Spectre Bride (1821) December Tales (1823) A Night’s Adventure in Rome (1850) The Old London Merchant (1850) The Poetry Ballads (1855) The Biography Short Biography: William Harrison Ainsworth (1900) by Stewart Marsh Ellis




The Lancashire Witches


Book Description

THE COMPLETE SET OF THREE BOOKS - The Lancashire Witches - A Romance of Pendle Forest by William Harrison Ainsworth, Esq. - The Lancashire Witches is the only one of William Harrison Ainsworth's forty novels that has remained continuously in print since its first publication. It was serialised in the Sunday Times newspaper in 1848; a book edition appeared the following year, published by Henry Colburn. The novel is based on the true story of the Pendle witches, who were executed in 1612 for causing harm by witchcraft. Modern critics such as David Punter consider the book to be Ainsworth's best work. E. F. Bleiler rated the novel "one of the major English novels about witchcraft". The subject of the Pendle witches was suggested to Ainsworth by antiquarian and long-time friend James Crossley, President of the Chetham Society. During 1846 and 1847 Ainsworth visited all of the major sites involved in the story, such as Pendle Hill and Malkin Tower, home of the Demdikes, one of the two families accused of witchcraft. He wrote the story in 1848, when it was serialised in the Sunday Times newspaper. On completion of the work, Ainsworth was paid £1,000 (equivalent to about £78,600 as of 2008), and the copyright reverted to him. As was common practice at the time, the novel was published in a three-volume set, known as a "triple decker". The first edition was produced by Henry Colburn in 1849, with the subtitle "A Romance of Pendle Forest". At £1 11s 6d, about the amount that a skilled worker could earn in a week, it was expensive. Routledge published an illustrated edition in 1854, reissued in 1878. The twelve full-page illustrations were by John Gilbert.