Shelley, Mary
Rare books by Mary Shelley, including first editions and finely bound copies of Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was a Romantic novelist, best-known as the author of the horror masterpiece Frankenstein. The daughter of feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and radical philosopher William Godwin, she grew up in an intellectually and politically charged household. As a teenager she eloped with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and it was during their 1816 trip to Geneva that Mary conceived her most famous book. Frankenstein was a complex novel that not only dealt with the unnerving ambiguities of modern science, but subverted the typical structure of the Gothic novel, replacing supernatural events with human agency as a commentary on power.
Frankenstein was first published pseudonymously in three volumes in 1818, and many critics believed that it was the work of Percy, whose editorial hand has been noted in both the novel and the unsigned preface. The second edition of 1823 was the first to name the author; it was published in two volumes and retained the text of the first edition. In 1831 Mary substantially re-edited the work and added a new preface. The new text was published in a cheaper popular format as one of Richard Bentley’s Standard Novels, together with another Gothic novel entitled The Ghost-Seer. This was also the first illustrated edition of Frankenstein, featuring an engraved frontispiece that was the first visual depiction of Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature. Shelley continued writing throughout her life, and many of her later works grapple with the same issues that made Frankenstein one of the most important works of the nineteenth century.
SHELLEY, Mary.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In three volumes. 1818
£135,000
First edition of Mary Shelley's masterpiece of Gothic horror and early polemic against the hubris of modern science. Written when Mary Shelley was only nineteen, Frankenstein is not...
3 volumes, 12mo (177 × 107 mm). Contemporary calf, covers ruled in gilt with a single fillet, smooth spines, black morocco labels, gilt lozenge motifs in... Read more
SHELLEY, Mary.
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. 1823
£30,000
Second edition, the first in which Mary Shelley is named as the author; not merely a reprint of the first edition of 1818 as some have supposed. E. B. Murray notes that there are a...
2 volumes, duodecimo. Uncut in original blue paper boards, drab paper backstrips, printed spine labels. Custom blue morocco-backed slipcase and chemise. Head of vol.... Read more
SHELLEY, Mary.
Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. 1831
£6,500
Third edition, the final definitive text and the first edition to be illustrated, the first really popular edition of the novel. Mary Shelley incorporated most of the changes...
2 volumes, octavo. Original red cloth, double black calf labels to each spine. Frontispiece and vignette title page. Ownership signature to front free endpaper of... Read more
SHELLEY, Mary W.
Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus. 1831
£4,750
Third edition, the final definitive text and the first edition to be illustrated, the first really popular edition of the novel. Mary Shelley incorporated most of the changes...
Small octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full black morocco, titles and extra decoration to spine gilt, triple rule to boards with floral cornerpieces... Read more
![[Photoplay edition of] Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus.](/content/store/products/28298/2/35677.jpg)
SHELLEY, Mary.
[Photoplay edition of] Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus. [1931]
£1,500
First photoplay edition, first printing. Published to accompany the 1931 Universal Pictures film starring Boris Karloff, who appears on the jacket.
Octavo. Original red cloth, titles to spine and upper board in black. With the dust jacket. Frontispiece and plate from film stills. Ownership inscription to front... Read more
![Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstien (sic) [Frankenstein.]](/content/store/products/1811/2/35065.jpg)
SHELLEY, Mary.
Presumption, or the Fate of Frankenstien (sic) [Frankenstein.] 1828
£425
An early 19th-century playbill advertising the performance of Frankenstein together with three other plays at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh, 31 March 1828.
Playbill, approx. 10.5 x 8 inches. Mounted, glazed and framed. Read more
