MILNER, H. M. [Mary Shelley]. Frankenstein; or, The Man and the Monster! (1826)

AUTHOR: MILNER, H. M. [Mary Shelley].

TITLE: Frankenstein; or, The Man and the Monster!

PUBLISHER: London, for Duncombe, n.d., [1826].

DESCRIPTION: 1 vol., 5-13/16" x 3-9/16", [3]-28pp., with the engraved frontis portrait plate, with Shelley's name misspelled "Shelly".

CONDITION: Internally clean and bright, closely trimmed first leaf with slight loss to a few letters, hardbound in recent brown cloth, gilt title and date to front cover.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: There appear to be three distinct title-page variants.

1. The Man and the Monster, or, the Fate of Frankenstein.
2. Frankenstein; or, The Man and the Monster! With Mary Shelley's name misspelled "Shelly"
3. Frankenstein; or, The Man and the Monster! With Mary Shelley's name correctly spelled "Shelley"

According to RBH only 1 copy each of all 3 have EVER appeared at auction so it goes without saying that all three versions are extremely scarce.

This edition precedes the third London edition by 5 years and provided the narrative for a theatrical production of Frankenstein, staged July 3, 1826, as performed at the London Theatres. The playbill lists the characters and actors who played them. One Mr. O. Smith features here as The Monster, and his portrait in costume is used as the frontispiece. First produced three years after Richard Brinsley Peake's play Presumption, Milner's play was the first to show the actual creation scene p.10/11.

Milner took major liberties with Mary Shelley's original novel. Like Peake, Milner made the Monster a mute, but in this case a confused and sympathetic one. Milner also made Frankenstein an egomaniacal cad, complete with an abandoned girlfriend and child. These changes would figure prominently in the familiar film adaptations by Universal and Hammer more than a century later. It also has a heck of an ending, with the Monster leaping to his death in Mount Etna during an eruption.