Books by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Tales from a Mistress of the GothicMary Shelley is possibly one of the most renowned women authors of all time. She is, of course, the literary creator of the iconic Frankenstein's monster and that alone has guaranteed it and her immortality rivalled only by Bram Stoker's Dracula in the pantheon of the bizarre. Beyond her most famous literary work, 'Frankenstein,' she possessed an incredible creative talent, responsible for a dazzling collection of novels, short stories, essays, plays, biographies and travel books. Mary Shelley was an independent, free thinking woman, decades before her time, who strongly adhered the ideals of her father, the political philosopher William Godwin and her mother, the feminist and liberal Mary Wollstonecraft. She notoriously-for her time-became the mistress of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and she subsequently married him upon the suicide of his wife. Those familiar with 'Frankenstein' will not be surprised to find it within this special collection, but those for whom it will be a new experience will discover a superb work of fiction which towers above our perceptions of it from its familiarity through film and television. Fortunately, Mary Shelley did not confine her excursions into the other worldly, weird and Gothic to just this tale of the 'man-made' man. This two volume edition contains two novels and many shorter pieces in testament to Mary Shelley's talent for the literature of the macabre.The second volume of this special collection of Mary Shelley's literary excursions into the bizarre and horrific includes the substantial novel, 'The Last Man.' This fine tale languished in obscurity until after the middle of the 20th century and is another good example of the writing and thoughts of an author far ahead of her time. It tells of a future post-apocalyptic world ravaged and massively depopulated by plague. If the theme seems a familiar one today, it should be remembered Shelley published 'The Last Man' in 1826. It is joined here by 'The Invisible Girl,' 'The Evil Eye' and 'The False Rhyme.'Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket for collectors.

Tales from a Mistress of the GothicMary Shelley is possibly one of the most renowned women authors of all time. She is, of course, the literary creator of the iconic Frankenstein's monster and that alone has guaranteed it and her immortality rivalled only by Bram Stoker's Dracula in the pantheon of the bizarre. Beyond her most famous literary work, 'Frankenstein,' she possessed an incredible creative talent, responsible for a dazzling collection of novels, short stories, essays, plays, biographies and travel books. Mary Shelley was an independent, free thinking woman, decades before her time, who strongly adhered the ideals of her father, the political philosopher William Godwin and her mother, the feminist and liberal Mary Wollstonecraft. She notoriously-for her time-became the mistress of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and she subsequently married him upon the suicide of his wife. Those familiar with 'Frankenstein' will not be surprised to find it within this special collection, but those for whom it will be a new experience will discover a superb work of fiction which towers above our perceptions of it from its familiarity through film and television. Fortunately, Mary Shelley did not confine her excursions into the other worldly, weird and Gothic to just this tale of the 'man-made' man. This two volume edition contains two novels and many shorter pieces in testament to Mary Shelley's talent for the literature of the macabre. In this the first volume the reader will discover the classic novel, 'Frankenstein' together with fourteen shorter pieces including, 'The Mortal Immortal,' 'Valerius: the Reanimated Roman,' 'The Mourner' and many others.Available in soft cover and hard cover with dust jacket. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket for collectors.

Hauntingly Faustian, Frankenstein is the uncanny tale of dark scientific experimentation and its monstrous consequences. Known as the first science fiction novel, Shelley's masterpiece redefined gothic horror literature. Young scientist Victor Frankenstein pillages graveyards for body parts and organs to fulfil his macabre desire to create life. Piecing together fragments of corpses to fashion the 'perfect' human, Frankenstein's unorthodox experiment plunges into a nightmare when he shocks his creation to life with electricity. The grotesque being that emerges is a monster beyond his creator's capabilities, and he is sent out into the world alone, confused, and consumed by an uncontrollable hatred for Victor Frankenstein. First published in 1818, this volume may never have been imagined if it were not for what is now known as the 'Lost Summer of 1816'. 200 years ago, Lord Byron rented the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. Accompanied by friends, including his physician, John William Polidori, the poet Percy Shelley, and Shelley's 19-year-old mistress, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, the group stayed at the mansion for three days. This cold and stormy summer trip became a writing competition among the friends to pen the scariest story. The work from that weekend has since inspired many horror and ghost stories, the most notable of which was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Not to be missed by fans of gothic horror, this classic novel is one of the most chilling tales of the cycle of destruction while artfully questioning what it means to be human.

It was on a dreary night in November,That I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety thatalmost amounted to agony, ICollected the instruments of life around me-How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or howDelineate the wretch whom with such infinitePains and care I had endeavoured to form? FRANKENSTEIN or THE MODERN PROMETHEUS by Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley is considered a masterpiece of gothic horror and science fiction. The novel was first published in London in 1818, and it adeptly illustrates, with a resounding magnitude, the ideas and visions of the Romantic Movement as realized by the poets Percy Shelley and George Gordon Lord Byron. Melding the surreal and the real, the conscious and the subconscious, the nightmare and the dream, Mary Shelley, guided by the literary ambitions of her husband Percy, the philosophical legacy of her father William Godwin and the ghost of her feminist mother Mary Wollstonecraft, gives us Victor Frankenstein, a hero reminiscent of Ahab, in dark pursuit of the hideous progeny which is also his alter-ego, the Monster. In the end, FRANKENSTEIN is a tale of madness and longing, the bonds of parent and child, friends and lovers. It is one of literature's greatest psychological stories in its ability to capture human insight and desire, and the depths to which that desire might lead us. Mary Shelley's greatest novel is, ultimately, an undisputed classic for all ages.

Sometimes it is said that the great writers examine the world around them and then write about what they see in it. Surely this is true of Mary Shelley -- was true of her even at age nineteen. She made order out of chaos, and found parents where there were none.The book charts a young woman's education under a tyrannical father figure. As a six-year-old orphan, Elizabeth Raby prevents Rupert Falkner from committing suicide; Falkner then adopts her and brings her up to be a model of virtue. However, she falls in love with Gerald Neville, whose mother Falkner had unintentionally driven to her death years before. When Falkner is finally acquitted of murdering Neville's mother, Elizabeth's female values subdue the destructive impulses of the two men she loves, who are reconciled and unite with Elizabeth in domestic harmony.