Frankenstein

$595.00
By Moons Rare Books

6b Mary Shelley. London: The Readers Library, 1932. 

Notes

Frankenstein stands as a monumental masterpiece of psychological terror, widely recognized as the foundational text of modern science fiction. The narrative unfolds through a nested epistolary structure, chronicling the tragic hubris of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but obsessive Swiss scientist. Driven by a desire to conquer death, Victor pieces together a humanoid creature from scavenged body parts and infuses it with the "spark of being." Horrified by the grotesque reality of his creation, Victor abandons the newborn being. Spurned by humanity and deeply traumatized by universal rejection, the highly intelligent Monster descends into a vengeful campaign of psychological torment against his creator. The novel masterfully explores themes of alienation, the ethical boundaries of scientific inquiry, and the monstrous consequences of parental and societal abandonment. Rather than a simple horror story, it is a profound philosophical meditation on the definition of humanity. 

Written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley when she was just nineteen years old, the novel famously originated during the stormy summer of 1816 at Lake Geneva, where she, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron challenged one another to write ghost stories. First published anonymously in London in 1818 to mixed and bewildered reviews, the text was thoroughly revised by Shelley for her definitive 1831 edition, which cemented its dark, fatalistic atmosphere. In the text, Shelley seamlessly synthesizes the emotional intensity of Romantic poetry with the atmospheric dread of the Gothic novel, while injecting cutting-edge contemporary science—such as Luigi Galvani’s experiments with bio-electric "galvanism." Her subtitle, The Modern Prometheus, serves as a direct warning against the hubris of playing God, reflecting the turbulent industrial and scientific revolutions reshaping her world.

Registered as Book No. 364 in the series, this scarce 252-page pocket hardcover represents the First English Photoplay Edition of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, rushed to British newsstands to cash in on James Whale's historic 1931 Universal film adaptation. Because the budget text block lacks the internal glossy film-still plates found in the parallel American Grosset & Dunlap printing, the entire visual power of this edition rests squarely on its phenomenal dust jacket, which features a terrifying, iconic front-panel painting of Boris Karloff as "The Monster". Because these fragile, paper-thin volumes were printed on low-grade, high-acid stock that browns heavily and chips easily, copies that survive intact with their original paper jackets are highly uncommon.
Description

Bound in maroon cloth. Blind-stamped art-deco organic floral motifs on the boards. Spine blind-stamped as well. Gentle bumping to corners. Sun fading to spine. Browning to pages. Extremely scarce photoplay edition dustwrapper with severe loss. Most of upper cover is present but turn-in flaps are separated and loss at all points and edges. 

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