About this book
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.
First line
You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.
First Edition Identification
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.
Details
- Title Frankenstein (Whole Story)
- Author Mary Shelley
- Binding Paperback
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 256
- Language EN
- Publisher Viking Juvenile, New York
- Date August 1, 1998
- ISBN 9780670878017
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Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
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- ISBN 13
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Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
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- ISBN 13
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Frankenstein
by Shelley, Mary
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- ISBN 13
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- ISBN 10
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Frankenstein (Whole Story)
by Mary Shelley
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- ISBN 13
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The Whole Story: Frankenstein
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Frankenstein (Whole Story)
by Shelley, Mary
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