The Gothic marketplace would seem to be one in which women would hold equal sway. Many Gothic authors were women; even a printer of Gothic romances, Ann Lemoine, was a woman. Author Charlotte Smith, whose life of domestic violence resembled a Gothic novel, was singled out for unique public humiliation by her publisher. Ann Ward Radcliffe preferred to be thought dead or insane than an authoress. And within the world of the Gothic novel, women are subject to numerous assaults on their virtue and to the tyranny of fathers, would-be lovers, and husbands. 

Legends of Terror! And Tales of the Wonderful and the Wild. London: G. Creed, 1840.

Legends of Terror! And Tales of the Wonderful and the Wild. London: G. Creed, 1840. The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels. A new series of legends, featuring more disquieting illustrations. Illustrations in the Gothic novel usually featured a beleagured lovely peering anxiously over her shoulder, or a young man terrified by a specter. These are slightly unusual in their explicit focus on death and monsters. The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels.

Legends of Terror! And Tales of the Wonderful and the Wild. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1826.

Legends of Terror! And Tales of the Wonderful and the Wild, Being a Complete Collection of Interesting Legendary Tales, National Romances, and Traditional Relics, in Prose and Verse, Comprising, in Addition to Numerous Original Translations, the Whole of the Ancient Legends of Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and other Countries, with Historical Illustrations. Embellished with Forty Elegant Engravings in Wood. London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1826. The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels. Frederick Coykendall writes, "The book is gruesome and in its illlustrations even disgusting" (GB). With this promising beginning, one can peruse this collection of tales from various countries. Usually featuring skeletons and monsters in alternating poses, the illustrations do indeed leave the reader strangely disquieted.

The Wanderings of Warwick. By Charlotte Smith. London: J. Bell, 1794.

The Wanderings of Warwick. By Charlotte Smith. London: J. Bell, 1794. Forced to support a violently abusive husband and several children, Charlotte Smith's life might almost be a page from a Gothic novel. Reportedly discriminated against because of her pro-French Revolution opinions, Smith received no peace even in the publishing world; the publisher's disclaimer seems to be a result of his having advertised extensively a novel she was late in delivering. Needless to say, her next novel appeared with a different publisher. The book itself is very rare; rarer still are the advertisements and Bell's venomous notice.

The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story. By Clara Reeve. Edited by J. Chapman. London: C. Dilly, 1799.

The Old English Baron: a Gothic Story. By Clara Reeve. Edited by J. Chapman. London: C. Dilly, 1799. Sixth edition. This novel is signed, "Clara Reeve." This is a reprint of the popular The Champion of Virtue, according to the Monthly Review, "is revived and corrected and more elegantly printed." The novel is heavily indebted to Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, which led to a contretemps between the two authors. Reeve felt that the violence of Walpole's novel destroyed the effect it was meant to have by drawing too much attention to itself; Walpole declared her novel "insipid." The young hero, Edmund, braves many horrors to obtain his rightful place in the world.

The Romance of the Forest. By Ann Ward Radcliffe. London: T. Hookham and J. Carpenter, 1791.

The Romance of the Forest. By Ann Ward Radcliffe. London: T. Hookham and J. Carpenter, 1791. First edition. This is the first work Radcliffe published under her own name. Mysterious threats, a ruined abbey, and an almost supernatural villain help set the standard for Gothic novels. The author led a secluded life; her public did not know whether she was dead or alive. When she was found to be very much alive, she was widely thought to be insane. The Literary Gazette of June 3, 1826 described Mrs. Radcliffe:
"She was ashamed (yes, ashamed), of her own talents, and was ready to sink into the earth at the bare suspicion of anyone taking her for an author; her chief ambition being to be thought a lady!"

The School for Friends. By Charlotte Dacre. London: Thomas Tegg, n. d.

The School for Friends. By Charlotte Dacre. London: Thomas Tegg, n. d. The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels. Dacre was one of the Gothic's most flexible practioners, marrying her tales to epistolary formats, the novel of manners, and here, a domestic tale.