# Is "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818) is identified by: Three volumes, published anonymously (London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1 January 1818), in an edition of 500 copies. The 1818 three-volume first (anonymous, 500 copies, with Percy Shelley's preface and the Paradise Lost epigraph) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Three volumes, published anonymously (London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1 January 1818), in an edition of 500 copies
- Each volume has its half-title
- Volume I carries the dedication leaf 'TO WILLIAM GODWIN… by the Author' and the unsigned preface written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Marlow, September 1817
- All three title pages are dated 1818 and bear the epigraph from Paradise Lost ('Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man?…'), which was dropped from the 1823 and 1831 editions
- Issued in original boards (drab/blue-grey, a few copies pink) with printed paper spine labels
- Because there is a single 1818 issue, identification turns on completeness (all half-titles and the dedication leaf present) and the untouched original binding rather than on textual 'points'
- Publisher imprint reads Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Mary Shelley |
| Publisher | Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones |
| Year | 1818 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Three volumes, published anonymously (London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1 January 1818), in an edition of 500 copies |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Three volumes, published anonymously (London: Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1 January 1818), in an edition of 500 copies. Each volume has its half-title; Volume I carries the dedication leaf 'TO WILLIAM GODWIN… by the Author' and the unsigned preface written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, dated Marlow, September 1817. All three title pages are dated 1818 and bear the epigraph from Paradise Lost ('Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man?…'), which was dropped from the 1823 and 1831 editions. Issued in original boards (drab/blue-grey, a few copies pink) with printed paper spine labels. Because there is a single 1818 issue, identification turns on completeness (all half-titles and the dedication leaf present) and the untouched original binding rather than on textual 'points'.

## Is this the true first?
The 1818 three-volume first (anonymous, 500 copies, with Percy Shelley's preface and the Paradise Lost epigraph) is the true first. The 1823 second edition (2 volumes) is the first to name 'Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley' on the title page; the heavily revised 1831 one-volume Colburn & Bentley 'Standard Novels' edition supplies the now-standard text and Mary Shelley's new introduction but is a much later 'first thus'. The 1818 is one of the most celebrated of all literary first editions.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1831 single-volume Colburn & Bentley 'Standard Novels' edition is frequently mistaken for an early first — it is a revised later text with a new frontispiece and introduction, not the 1818. Any one-volume copy, any copy naming Mary Shelley on the title page, or any copy lacking the Paradise Lost epigraph is not the 1818 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Frankenstein* by Mary Shelley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/frankenstein
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.