Frankenstein — The Original 1818 Text (eBook)

Everybody knows Frankenstein. Almost nobody has read the book Mary Shelley actually wrote.

This edition prints Frankenstein exactly as it first appeared in 1818 — the text of the eighteen-year-old who invented the story in a ghost-story contest at the Villa Diodati in the Year Without a Summer, before the stage plays, before the films, and before Shelley’s own 1831 revision softened it. In the 1818 text printed here, Elizabeth is Victor’s cousin, the chapters are the original twenty-three, the Preface is the one published in 1818, and the Creature has no name, no bolts, and no flat head. He teaches himself to read Milton, Plutarch, and Goethe at a cottage wall, and pleads his case to his maker in the most eloquent prose of the nineteenth century. It is darker, stranger, and sadder than the legend that replaced it.

Inside this edition:

• The complete, unabridged 1818 text — Walton’s four letters and all 23 chapters, restored from the first edition (Project Gutenberg #41445, cross-checked against scans of the 1818 edition)

• The 1818 edition’s own front matter: the dedication to William Godwin, the Paradise Lost epigraph, and the 1818 Preface

• A new introduction — the two-texts story (1818 vs 1831) and the story of that famous summer of 1816

• Who’s Who — every major character, with the "Frankenstein is the monster" error addressed head-on

• Five explainers: galvanism and the science of 1818 · the nested letter-frame · the Prometheus myth · the Arctic frame · what "modern" meant in 1818

• A short life of Mary Shelley

• A plain-spoken note on the period text

• An appendix, "1818 vs 1831 — What Mary Shelley Changed": Elizabeth’s family, the added 1831 Introduction, the chapter renumbering, the toned-down Victor — verified differences only

• Discussion questions for every letter and chapter, plus a whole-book set

The novel’s text is public domain — Mary Shelley died in 1851, and the 1818 text is public domain worldwide. All companion material is original to this edition. No film imagery or film likeness is used anywhere in this book: the Creature here is Shelley’s.

Formats: EPUB eBook ($9.99, this listing). Paperback and hardcover print editions follow on Amazon. The printable Book Club Kit for this edition is available in this store.