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The Tower of London is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth serially published in 1840. It is a historical romance that describes the history of Lady Jane Grey from her short-lived time as Queen of England to her execution.
During 1840, Ainsworth was busy writing the serial The Tower of London while writing a serial for Guy Fawkes and while planning to start his own magazine. Both novels began their publication in January 1840, with The Tower of London being published on its own until December 1840. Ainsworth celebrated the conclusions of The Tower of London with a large dinner party near the printers of his works, Bradbury and Evans, at the Sussex Hotel. The work was illustrated by George Cruikshank.
Edgar Allan Poe believes that "The authorship of this work does a little, and but a little, more credit to Mr. Ainsworth than that of 'Jack Sheppard'. It is in no spirit cavilling that we say it is rarely our lot to review a work more utterly destitute of every ingredient requisite to a good romance".
In 1934, Malcolm Elwin argues, "several of his novels - particularly Tower of London and Old St. Paul's, in spite of the absurd antics of the hero of the latter - have undoubtedly the quality of durability. No writer could hope to surpass either as romantic histories of their particular subject." Leo Mason, in a 1939 article, says that "History through the eyes of romance is the essence of Ainsworth at his best - The Lancashire Witches, Tower of London, Old St. Paul's, are romantic histories and will no doubt endure." Worth, in 1972, explains that Ainsworth "spaces his [architectural] descriptions judiciously throughout the novel in such a way as to heighten the effect of the novel rather than detract from it." In 1975, Nicholas Rance claims that The Tower of London is an "incongruous merging of historical romance and guide book".
The enduring image of the Tower of London as a grim place of torture and imprisonment was largely shaped by the works of 19th-century authors, particularly Ainsworth's novel. Such was its influence in emphasising the Tudor epoch of the Tower's history, in the late 20th century historians R Allen Brown and P Curnow felt it still dominated the public perception of the castle. In their official handbook to the Tower, published in 1986, they noted that "Still an innocent visitor to the place today might be led to suppose by guides and guidebooks, that it was built almost entirely for the Tudor monarchs". (wikipedia.org)
