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Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus Paperback - 2008

by Mary Wollstonecraft 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.




From the publisher

Hauntingly Faustian, Frankenstein is the uncanny tale of dark scientific experimentation and its monstrous consequences. Known as the first science fiction novel, Shelley's masterpiece redefined gothic horror literature.

Young scientist Victor Frankenstein pillages graveyards for body parts and organs to fulfil his macabre desire to create life. Piecing together fragments of corpses to fashion the 'perfect' human, Frankenstein's unorthodox experiment plunges into a nightmare when he shocks his creation to life with electricity. The grotesque being that emerges is a monster beyond his creator's capabilities, and he is sent out into the world alone, confused, and consumed by an uncontrollable hatred for Victor Frankenstein.

First published in 1818, this volume may never have been imagined if it were not for what is now known as the 'Lost Summer of 1816'. 200 years ago, Lord Byron rented the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. Accompanied by friends, including his physician, John William Polidori, the poet Percy Shelley, and Shelley's 19-year-old mistress, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the group stayed at the mansion for three days. This cold and stormy summer trip became a writing competition among the friends to pen the scariest story. The work from that weekend has since inspired many horror and ghost stories, the most notable of which was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Not to be missed by fans of gothic horror, this classic novel is one of the most chilling tales of the cycle of destruction while artfully questioning what it means to be human.

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 Wollstonecraft Shelley
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 230
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Read & Co. Classics
  • Date 2008-05
  • ISBN 9781409719823 / 1409719820
  • Weight 0.65 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.52 in (21.59 x 13.97 x 1.32 cm)
  • Reading level 1000
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC
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Frankenstein;or, The Modern Prometheus
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by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus

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Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus
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Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus

by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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ISBN 13
9781409719823
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