London, Review of Reviews, n.d. [1896 or 1897]. First Thus. Paperback. A near fine copy. Quite rare. New preface by W.T. Stead, with a significant abridgement down to around 40,000 words (from around 90,000). This represents a somewhat significant entry in the Frankenstein bibliography being, we believe, the first abridged edition (eighth overall?). Bennett & Curran, in their book Mary Shelley and Her Times, note the Stead introduction but offer no further details on the abridgement. They have the publication date as 1893, this is almost certainly wrong. Some tanning to the wraps, a chip to the lower wrapper, 40mm tear to upper wrap and some chipping to the spine, but nice overall. No copies located in COPAC or WorldCat. One in commerce that I can find (sold by us in 2019). The book is #49 in W.T. Stead's Penny Popular Novels, an important series in its own right. Part of the 'Masterpiece Library'. [11253, Hyraxia Books].

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