This week, library and digital assistant Alexandra Brummitt takes a look at our special edition of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus published in 1831. She discusses the life and inspirations of author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the first science fiction writer.

Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, (born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin) is a gothic horror story and often referred to as the first science fiction novel. If you have never read this book, then it is a perfect spooky story to read this Halloween season.

Frankenstein follows scientist Victor Frankenstein as he creates a ‘monster’ from dead body parts and brings him to life using electricity. The novel then follows the monster’s narrative and his anguish at being abandoned by his creator. In the conclusion of this novel Frankenstein is killed by the monster that he created.

Leeds Central Library has a third edition copy of this novel, published in 1831 by Richard Bentley and Henry Colburn and the first illustration of Frankenstein’s monster can be found on the first page. This stunning and slightly disturbing drawing was drawn by Theodor von Holst, a student of Henry Fuseli. The image is a visualisation of an extract from the text that is written at the bottom of the page. The quote reads;

‘By the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull, yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive agitation seized its limbs…I rushed out of the room.’

At the right side of the illustration, you can see Victor Frankenstein fleeing the room, the look of pure fear on his features. However, the main focus of the image is the ‘monster’ who is on the floor with an agonised look on his face as he takes his first breaths. The Gothic meets romantic style of the image as well as the symbols of both death and science perfectly capture the themes that Shelley conveyed in this novel.

This edition was edited from the original version that Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote in 1816 when she was only 18 years old. This version contains an introduction from Shelley in which she answers the question “How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea”.

She discusses how the early influences in her life led her to becoming a writer. Both of Shelley’s parents were influential writers in their own rights and big inspirations to her. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the earliest English women’s rights advocates and the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Her father, William Godwin, was a leading enlightenment philosopher and celebrated author.

She spent a large part of her youth in Scotland, where she met her future husband and popular romantic poet, Percy Bysshe-Shelley. She comments that the scenery of the country inspired her creativity.

The tragedy in the novel can also be seen in Mary Shelley’s young life. Her mother died of an infection 10 days after giving birth to her. A year before she began writing Frankenstein Shelley had lost her infant child to disease. In 1816 Shelley’s half-sister, Fanny Imlay, committed suicide and mere weeks later so does Percy Shelley’s wife, Harriet. While writing Frankenstein Shelley was still nursing her second child and was pregnant with her third child. Both of whom would die during infancy.

In the summer of 1816 Mary and Percy holiday in Switzerland with Lord Byron and his pregnant lover, Claire Clairmont, whom is also Mary’s stepsister. This summer was extremely wet and so to alleviate boredom, Lord Byron suggests a competition to write the best gothic tale of terror. This is where Mary begins to write Frankenstein. Her visit to the Alps on this trip inspired her to set the pivotal scene in Frankenstein atop Mont Blanc.

Throughout her upbringing Mary Shelley was well educated in not just literature but in science as well. In the introduction of this edition, she says that while listening to Lord Byron and her husband discuss the nature of the principle of life she began to wonder ‘Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated; galvanism had had given token of such things’. Galvanism was a theory presented by Luigi Galvani, that through electrical pulses a dead body could move. He had proved this theory using frogs’ legs, making them move despite them not being attached to the frog’s body.

Due to her gender Shelley struggled to find a publisher willing to print her book. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus was first published anonymously in 1818 when Shelley was 20 years old. The first edition was published with a forward from her husband Percy Shelley and due to this many people originally believed that the work belonged to him. Only 500 copies were originally published, and the novel was slow to gain popularity. A second edition was published by her father, William Godwin, in 1823 that credited Mary Shelley as the author. She received some criticism for her work after this but mostly because contemporary readers believed that a young woman should not think of such horrid things. Despite this her work has gained much popularity over the years, and she is widely considered as the first science fiction author. In 2021 a first edition copy of Frankenstein sold for $1.17 million.

Over 80 unique films have been made adapting the work. The most significant being the 1931 film that gave Frankenstein’s monster the iconic look that has lasted nearly a century.

If you are a fan of classic science fiction or you love a contemporary fantasy novel then have a look at Leeds Central Library events and join us for a variety of fantasy events from 10^th November 2023.