Frankenstein

The monster he gave life to would be the death of him.
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When Frankenstein was acknowledged as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s work rather than that of a mysterious “Marlow” who signed the short preface to the 1818 edition (likely Percy Bysshe Shelley), publishers Colburn and Bentley asked Ms. Shelley to write an introduction for an 1831 reprint … and she also took the opportunity to revise the text before that printing.

But not every edition going forward kept her comments. The 1897 edition by Gibbings/Lippincott keeps Shelley's introduction and adds seven plates, serene paintings of various locations in Europe. But when the Cornhill Publishing Company added newer, much more macabre artwork by Carl Lagerquist to their 1922 edition, they retained Shelley's revised story text but included neither the 1818 preface nor the 1831 introduction.

In this Smidgen Press reprint, we've preserved the most comprehensive version of the text, to include all preliminary material. And with only ten Cornhill editions listed in libraries worldwide, we're also pleased to bring you the rare 1922 artwork of Carl Lagerquist.