A Description of the Villa at Strawberry-Hill

A facsimile of the catalog of Horace Walpole's famous villa at Strawberry Hill, the origin of Gothick architecture, and one of the treasure houses of the 18th centuryStrawberry Hill, Horace Walpole s "little castle" southwest of London is the finest building in the Gothick stylethe playful antiquarianism that flourished at the end of the 18th century.

Here Walpole established his "Committee of Taste," collected furiously, and wrote the first Gothic horror novel, "The Castle of Otranto." Although the villa was popular with tourists from its inception, Walpole published the Description not so much as a guide to the building as a record of its design and of its bewilderingly rich contents.

Only 300 copies were printed inhis lifetime, and many of these were kept for friends.

This, the first facsimile, contains the final version of the text and the 26 engravings commissioned by Walpole as the definitive images of his paper castle: views of the house, the garden, the principal rooms, individual details of the decoration, and plans."