Home / Browse / Literature & History / Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In three volumes.
SHELLEY, Mary.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. In three volumes.
Publisher: London: for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, 1818
Stock code: 65492
Price: £135,000 Currency Conversion
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 the only memorable remnant of that cold summer at the Villa Diodati (Polidori's The Vampyre has the same origin), but it is certainly the most famous. Frankenstein effortlessly transcends the typical Gothic novel: ruined castles, graveyards and charnel houses appear only briefly or in the distance, and diabolical agency is replaced by human, natural and scientific powers. And unlike most Gothic novels Frankenstein is modern rather than mock-medieval: Mary Shelley managed to reconcile the Prometheus theme, then occupying both her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, with the most up-to-date scientific preoccupations, anticipating many of the themes of science fiction. Her husband's editorial hand has been noted in various places, particularly in the unsigned preface describing the circumstances of its origin and in the plangent cadences of the closing paragraph.
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 compartments, double gilt rules across. With half-titles in each volume and final advert leaf in vol. I. Contemporary ownership inscriptions on pastedowns of John O'Neill, Tullymore [?] Lodge. Sides a little rubbed, two small areas of light surface worming to two boards (vols. II and III) but the leather still sound, a few light marks internally, some pages lightly creased where turned down, overall an excellent unrestored copy retaining a pleasing contemporary feel, and a notably tall, well-margined copy.
