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Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus Paperback - 1994 - 3rd Edition

by Mary Shelley


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.




Summary

Now a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition with an introduction by Elizabeth Kostova and cover art by Ghost World creator Daniel Clowes, Mary Shelley’s timeless gothic novel presents the epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.


@NotoriousDOC Just did a bit-torrent-style grave robbery. My new ‘man’ will be an artful collage. Also, good conversation starter.

It’s alive! I’d better beat it over the head repeatedly with a fire extinguisher.

So sometimes you build something, and it gets away. They’re gonna can me at the university if they find out about this.

From Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less

From the publisher

One of the best known horror stories ever. Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, has a great ambition: to create intelligent life. But when his creature first stirs, he realizes he has made a monster. A monster which, abandoned by his master and shunned by everyone who sees it, follows Dr Frankenstein with murder and horrors to the very ends of the earth.

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: Or the Modern Prometheus
  • Author Mary Shelley
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition number 3rd
  • Edition 3
  • Pages 288
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Puffin Books, New York
  • Date 1994-11-01
  • ISBN 9780140367126 / 0140367128
  • Weight 0.45 lbs (0.20 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.7 in (20.07 x 13.72 x 1.78 cm)
  • Ages 10 to UP years
  • Grade levels 5 - UP
  • Reading level 1170
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Mary Shelley was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin on August 30, 1797 in London, the daughter of William Godwin--a radical philosopher and novelist, and Mary Wollstonecraft--a renowned feminist and the author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman. She eloped to France with Shelley in 1814, although they were not married until 1816, after the suicide of his first wife. She began work on Frankenstein in 1816 in Switzerland, while they were staying with Lord Byron, and it was published in 1818 to immediate acclaim. She died in London in 1851.
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)

by Shelley, Mary

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)

by Shelley, Mary

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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)

by Shelley, Mary

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)

by Shelley, Mary

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Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus

Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus

by Mary Shelley

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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus

by Shelley, Mary

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus

by Shelley, Mary

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780140367126 / 0140367128
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus

by Shelley, Mary

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780140367126 / 0140367128
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)
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Frankenstein: Or The Modern Prometheus (Puffin Classics)

by Mary Shelley

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
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