Can you pinpoint the very first Gothic you read?

[Des Esseintes]

I started keeping a list of books I've read and dates I finished them back in 1991 and I know exactly how many books I've read since then. Reviewing the list is also a great memory aid for other things because I remember stuff like where I worked, where I lived, or who I discussed the book with at the time. However, it doesn't really help me remember when I read my first gothic novel because I had read a few as a child. I read Dracula, Frankenstein and several tales by Poe and Lovecraft even in grade school. I can't say I really grasped them at the time, because for years I had misconceptions about them. I didn't really get an accurate image of most of my earlier reading until I reread most of it in high school and realized how poorly I understood it when I was younger.

I have tried to backtrack and extend my list backwards by remembering things I read years ago but I haven't done well. That is sort of why your own search for Danse Macabre interested me. It's a feeling I can relate to.