The gothic novel was a popular genre in England during the romantic era. Authors who wrote within this genre generally produced dark and frightening stories with an emphasis on violence and oppression, often making frequent use of the supernatural. The Minerva Press capitalized on the fashion for these novels and became highly successful in the 1790s as publishers of sentimental and gothic fiction.

Literary critics generally consider the work of Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto be the first gothic novel. Although Walpole’s novel was initially published in 1764, the rise of Gothic fiction did not really begin until the 1790s. Ann Radcliffe’s novels, in particular, built on the literary foundations established by Walpole, establishing a range of conventions. and themes that would later be identified with a distinctive form of modern romance or gothic novel. Minerva Press would provide a publishing stable for many imitators of Radcliffe’s work.

The company was founded in 1790 in London by its owner William Lane after moving his circulating library to the capital. Lane was a charismatic businessman who quickly made a fortune marketing cheap gothic fiction and it wasn’t long before Minerva dominated the novel publishing industry, commanding an impressive market share.

It is important for feminist studies that many of the authors published by Minerva were women and that her output was read primarily by female readers. Although relatively obscure today, some of the company’s most prominent novelists who wrote within the gothic genre include Eliza Parsons; Regina Maria Roche; Elizabeth Kelly; Catherine Selden; Mary Meeke, and many others. Several of Minerva’s titles, such as The animated skeleton (1798) and the new monk (1798) – a parody of Matthew Lewis The monk (1796) – were published anonymously.

The Minerva authors drew directly from the Gothic conventions established by Walpole and Radcliffe, and their novels focused on the themes of feudal cruelty, young virgins in peril, rightful inheritance, ruthless bandits, and vengeful ghosts. As with the work of her literary ancestors, the narratives of Minerva’s Gothic novels would frequently be set in the distant medieval past, her stories often taking place against a sinister backdrop of ruined castles and convents set in the South of Europe.

Although many of the authors of Minerva are now forgotten, Jane Austen’s famous parody of the gothic genre, Northanger Abbey (1818), he inadvertently brought a select few back into the public consciousness. In Austen’s novel, the character of Isabella Thorpe is described as an avid reader of Gothic fiction, presenting the heroine Catherine Morland with a reading list of so-called “horrible novels”. The list includes seven titles in all, including Eliza Parsons. wolfenbach castle (1793) and the mysterious warning (1796), as well as that of Regina Maria Roche Clermont (1798), and of the seven titles in total, only one, that of Francis Lathom the midnight bell (1798), was not published by Minerva.

Isabella’s list subsequently became known as the ‘Northanger Canon’ and for many years these titles were believed to have been invented by Austen himself. It wasn’t until pioneering studies by literary scholars Michael Sadleir and Montague Summers in the early 20th century revealed that the novels on the list were real.

After his death in 1814, William Lane was succeeded by his partner Anthony King Newman, who became the new owner of Minerva. Beginning in the 1820s, Newman dropped the Minerva name, and later book covers featured the name ‘AK Newman & Co.’. However, in recent years, critical acclaim has eluded authors who published work under Lane or Newman.