[SHELLEY, Mary Wollstonecraft (1797-1851).] Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, and Jones, 1818.

An exquisite first edition of Frankenstein in a contemporary binding, with provenance linked to Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft.

Frankenstein was conceived during the rainy summer of 1816 beside Lake Geneva, where the author and Percy Shelley were staying with Lord Byron. It was Byron’s suggestion that the group, who had amused themselves with reading French translations of German ghost stories, should each write their own. ‘I busied myself to think of a story’, Shelley later wrote, ‘—a story to rival those which had excited us to this task. One which would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror—one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.’

Published anonymously on 1 January 1818 in a run of 500 copies, the first edition included a preface written by Percy Shelley and a dedication to the author’s father, William Godwin. The present copy bears the ownership inscription of Sir Gilbert East (1764-1828) of Hall Place, who had been a student at Steventon under Jane Austen’s father George Austen from 1779-1783 and was the subject of Mrs Austen’s poem ‘Epistle to G. East, Esqr’. East’s father, Sir William East (1738-1819), was an acquaintance of Austen’s aunt Mrs Leigh-Perrot, and was a friend and benefactor to Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, after her attempted suicide in 1796. Sir William receives special commendation in Godwin’s memoirs for the kindness he showed to Wollstonecraft at this time.

The single-volume format of this copy is rare: RareBookHub records just one other single-volume copy in a contemporary binding in over 30 years. A splendid copy of Frankenstein linking three of the foremost female writers of the era.

Three volumes bound in one, 12mo (173 x 106mm). Half-titles present for each volume (lacking adverts, minor closed tear to margin of D5 in vol. 1, small chips to blank corners of 2 leaves including second title, some mostly marginal stains or thumb-soiling). Contemporary tree calf by Burton and Batty of Maidenhead with their ticket to front pastedown, red morocco lettering piece (upper joint neatly repaired, lower joint very tender); custom quarter calf case. Provenance: Sir Gilbert East, 2nd Baronet of Hall Place, Maidenhead (1764–1828; ownership signature dated 1824 on inner margin of first title page. The Catalogue of the Library at Hall Place, Berks (1854) lists a single-volume Frankenstein first edition on Case 4, Shelf 9. Sir Gilbert left a very eccentric will, with lavish provisions for his pets and incredible specificity as to the material, decoration, and scenting of his coffin) – Philip C. Duschnes (bookseller’s ticket to rear pastedown).