Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus is a Gothic novel written by Mary Shelley in 1818. The story revolves around Victor Frankenstein, a scientist who creates a monstrous creature and immediately regrets his actions, abandoning the creature to its own devices. The creature, seeking acceptance and revenge, terrorizes Victor and those he loves. Themes of ambition, ethics, humanity, and loneliness are explored through Shelley's vivid descriptions of the natural world and her characters' psychological torment. Frankenstein remains a classic of Gothic literature and a seminal work of science fiction.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin wrote the first draft of her groundbreaking novel in 1816, while on a trip to Lake Geneva with her soon-to-be husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and poet Lord Byron. They were stuck indoors during famously known as the Year Without a Summer.

A small London publishing house, Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, first printed Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus in a limited series of just 500 copies on January 1, 1818. By then, Mary was just 20 years old. The first edition was published anonymously in 1818, with a preface by Percy B. Shelley and a dedication to Mary’s father, philosopher William Godwin. Mary Shelley didn’t publicly claim her novel until years later, and her name appears in the second edition, published in 1823. First edition original pasteboards were in blueish gray.

First editions are very scarce and exceptionally rare on the market. In 2021 one of the first 500 copies of the novel was sold at auction for $1.17 million. It was the first Frankenstein first edition copy to be auctioned since 1985.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is considered today one of the world’s first science-fiction novels, which addresses key questions of what it means to be human. All first three printings of Frankenstein are scarce and very desirable for collectors. 

In 1831, Mary Shelley published a revised edition with several narrative changes. This 1831 text is the one that’s most widely known. Shelley also added an introduction, in which she describes how the story of Frankenstein came to be and removed the Paradise Lost epitaph that was on the title page of the 1818 edition.

The first illustrated edition was published in two volumes by Colburn and Bentley, London in 1831, illustrated by Theodor von Holst and engraved by William Chevalier. 

Among other collectible editions of Frankenstein is the one done by artist and graphic novel pioneer Lynd Ward in 1934. In 2022 Angela Barret illustrated a Folio Society edition of Frankenstein limited to 750 copies, signed by the artist.