Ainsworth wrote some 40 novels during his long career, but these three were among his greatest and most popular, establishing him as one of the foremost English novelists of the 1830s and 40s:
Rookwood (1834). The first gothic novel with an English setting. Features Dick Turpin’s ride to York on Black Bess - a legend in the making!
Jack Sheppard (1840). The story of the notorious eighteenth-century criminal and Newgate escapologist, victim of the infamous Jonahan Wild. This was Ainsworth’s most successful novel, outselling Dickens at this point in his career. The book sparked off some controversy about the author’s treatment of his anti-hero, and has been described as ‘the high point of the Newgate novel as entertainment’.
Old St Paul’s (1841). A tale of the Plague and the Fire, based on published and unpublished works by Defoe.
William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-83)was one of the most popular novelists of the nineteenth century. In the 1840s, his fame rivalled that of Charles Dickens. This blog is a celebration of his life and work. Please wait for the photograph to download.
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King Street, Manchester c.1823
The Ainsworth house is the last on the right
2 comments:
Nice to see a Lancastrian as subject of a blog - even if he wasn't a comedian. Having read one-and-a-half of Ainsworth's novels my appetite has been whetted and I look forward to the Rookwood extract to follow.
Thanks for your comments. I'm putting the Rookwood verses on today.
Not many laughs, but good spine-chilling stuff!
Keep looking, there's more where that came from, plus details of WHA's life, family and friends.
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