A rumor found its way into romantic and Gothic literature during the 18th and 19th centuries that involved Venice’s world renowned Murano glass. Fiction authors claimed it was so pure that if it came into contact with a poison impurity, the glass would break. One of the most popular Gothic authors to extoll this supposed virtue of Murano glass was Ann Radcliffe in her best-selling novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. The Gothic novel was published in 1794 and in its pages Emily, t

In chronological order, this is my list of the top ten Gothic novels and short stories, published before 1850. 1. The Castle of Otranto (1764) 2. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) 3. The Monk (1796) 4. Frankenstein (1818) 5. The Vampyre (1819) 6. Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) 7. The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh (1838) 8. The Fall of the House of Usher (1839) 9. Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter (1839) 10. Wuthering Heights (1847) #GothicNovels #EarlyGoth