Mary Shelley | Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus, 1823, second edition, contemporary armorial calf gilt

Mary Shelley

Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus... A New Edition. London: for G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1823

Second edition, 2 volumes, 12mo (177 x 108 mm), half-titles, contemporary calf gilt, armorial stamps to covers, marbled edges, marbled endpapers, housed in a modern quarter-calf case, boards detached, extremities slightly rubbed with marks to upper board of volume 2

The very rare second edition of Shelley's masterpiece, which was first published in 1818. The present edition is THE FIRST EDITION TO BEAR THE AUTHOR'S NAME ON THE TITLE-PAGE, as well as the first to include the preface detailing the circumstances behind the novel's composition.

PROVENANCE:

Lewis Richard Ashhurst (1806–1874), armorial stamps to covers (UToronto British Armorial Bindings Stamp 1), bookplates, and pencil inscription; sale in these rooms, 10 July 2003, lot 152