Book 1 of 1123. Ann Radcliffe's The Italian. Published in 1797 and, apparently, quite popular then.
The edition I'm reading is the Oxford University Press "World's Classics" paperback version, first published in 1981. It was edited by Frederick Garber, then an English professor at SUNY Binghampton. Garber also provides a (thankfully) brief introduction.
I will say little about the professor's intro other than this: it represents the classic academic writing of the period. Dense, verbose and filled with long, overly complicated sentences, it lacks focus and, to be honest, interest.
Radcliffe's own introductory frame chapter, on the other hand, is fabulous. It's got me hooked already. Any time I put a book down with a smile on my face, I know I've got a good one.
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