Home Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus - c1830 (illustrated) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (ISBN: 9781523824243)

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Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus - c1830 (illustrated) Paperback - 2016

Name: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus - c1830 (illustrated) (Classics)
Price: 6.98 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
ISBN: 9781523824243

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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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.

From the publisher

English writer Mary Shelley is best known for her horror novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (c1830). She was married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. 'The blood flowed freely in my veins, but a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart, which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible, and more, much more (I persuaded myself) was yet behind'. Frankenstein is one of the most amazing horror stories ever written and takes the reader into an unknown world of mystery. The movements of Gothic and Romantic, a disturbed genius, a scientist determined to create life and so, the monster Frankenstein was born.

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.