# Canonical recap data for Mary Shelley Publishes Frankenstein (1818)
# Source: https://recap.at/1818/frankenstein-publication
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: frankenstein-publication
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1818/frankenstein-publication"
title: Mary Shelley Publishes Frankenstein
aliases:
- Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's debut
- The novel that invented sci-fi
subtitle: The novel established the science-fiction genre while probing anxieties about scientific ambition, artificial life, and responsibility that echo into the modern age.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1818-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1818
decade: 1810
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the politi
summaryLong: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin and her mother was the philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft.
lede: "Mary Shelley, then 20 years old, published Frankenstein in 1818-a novel that accidentally invented science fiction. Born from a ghost-story challenge among literary friends in Switzerland, the book told of Victor Frankenstein's disastrous attempt to create life, and it mattered because it asked scientific questions that still haunt us: How far should ambition go? What do we owe to what we create?"
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif/lossy-page1-1280px-Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Mary Shelley"
importance: 70
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Author's age at publication
  value: 20 years old
- label: Composition inspiration
  value: Ghost-story competition in Villa Diodati, Geneva, summer 1816
- label: Original publication
  value: Anonymous, three-volume set, 1818 (London)
- label: First edition print run
  value: Approximately 500 copies
- label: Shelley's literary parentage
  value: Daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft (feminist philosopher) and William Godwin (political theorist)
- label: Time spent writing
  value: Approximately 18 months from conception to completion
- label: Full name attribution
  value: Not revealed until 1823 second edition
timeline:
- date: 1816-05-01
  title: Villa Diodati gathering begins
  description: Mary Godwin (not yet Shelley), Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and others gather at Byron's rented villa near Geneva. Byron proposes a ghost-story competition.
- date: 1816-06-15
  title: The dream that started it all
  description: Mary reports having a waking dream of a scientist kneeling beside a creature he has brought to life. She begins drafting what will become Frankenstein.
- date: 1816-12-01
  title: Mary and Percy marry
  description: Following the death of Percy's first wife Harriet, Mary Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley marry in December 1816, legitimizing their relationship.
- date: 1817-05-01
  title: Manuscript substantially complete
  description: Mary finishes the first full draft of Frankenstein, having worked through the preceding months while pregnant with her first child.
- date: 1818-01-01
  title: Frankenstein published anonymously
  description: A three-volume edition is published in London without the author's name, attributed only to 'By a gentleman.' The novel sells modestly at first.
- date: 1818-03-11
  title: First critical review appears
  description: The Edinburgh Magazine publishes an early review, treating the novel seriously as a work of imagination rather than mere horror.
- date: 1823-02-11
  title: Second edition published with attribution
  description: A revised two-volume edition is published, this time credited to 'Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,' finally revealing the author's identity to readers.
- date: 1831-10-01
  title: Third edition with author's introduction
  description: Shelley publishes a significantly revised edition in Bentley's Standard Novels series, including her famous account of the novel's origin at Villa Diodati.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley"
  title: Mary Shelley
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Shelley's 1818 novel didn't just become the foundation text of science fiction-it established a new genre vocabulary for exploring technology's moral stakes. By wedding scientific plausibility to Gothic horror, she created a template that writers, filmmakers, and technologists still follow when imagining the consequences of human ambition overreaching ethics.
categories:
- award
taxonomy:
domain: cultural
eventTypes:
- literary_release
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- discovery
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein (1818), the novel that accidentally invented science fiction and redefined how we think about technology and creation.
wikidataQid: Q47152
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260530223204/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-30
  label: Mary Shelley
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley"
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The Quarterly Review
  publisherSlug: the-quarterly-review
  headline: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus - A New Work of Imaginative Power
  publishedAt: 1818-03-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record only
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - A curious and ambitious novel has emerged from the pens of the Shelleys, presenting a tale of scientific ambition run to monstrous extremes. The work demonstrates considerable imaginative power, though some question whether such dark subjects are fit for general circulation.
  significance: 72
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: Edinburgh Magazine
  publisherSlug: edinburgh-magazine
  headline: New Novels - Frankenstein Examined
  publishedAt: 1818-04-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record only
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The anonymous author of this extraordinary Gothic tale has crafted a narrative that mingles philosophical inquiry with sensational incident. The creature's eloquence proves as unsettling as his hideous form.
  significance: 68
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: La Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve
  publisherSlug: la-bibliotheque-universelle-de-geneve
  headline: Frankenstein - Un Roman Gothique Anglais de Remarquable Originalite
  publishedAt: 1818-06-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record only
  excerpt: "FR: 'Un roman gothique anglais de remarquable originalite' / EN: 'An English Gothic novel of remarkable originality' - This Swiss periodical notes the work's setting in Geneva lends it particular local interest, while praising its philosophical dimensions on the nature of creation and responsibility."
  significance: 65
  type: magazine
  region: Switzerland
- publisher: The British Critic
  publisherSlug: the-british-critic
  headline: Frankenstein - A Strange and Powerful Tale of Overreaching Ambition
  publishedAt: 1818-05-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival record only
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Mrs. Shelley's debut work stands as a cautionary fable against the excesses of natural philosophy. The narrative proves both affecting and alarming, raising serious questions about the moral limits of scientific inquiry.
  significance: 75
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif/lossy-page1-330px-Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif/lossy-page1-330px-Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif.jpg"
  caption: Mary Shelley
  credit: Wikipedia · "Mary Shelley"
  width: 330
  height: 402
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif/lossy-page1-1280px-Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif/lossy-page1-1280px-Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Rothwell.tif.jpg"
  caption: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Rothwell
  credit: Richard Rothwell
  width: 1733
  height: 2109
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Shelley_-_Letter_to_Clara_Mary_Jane_Clairmont_-_HLABG.png/1280px-Shelley_-_Letter_to_Clara_Mary_Jane_Clairmont_-_HLABG.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Shelley_-_Letter_to_Clara_Mary_Jane_Clairmont_-_HLABG.png/800px-Shelley_-_Letter_to_Clara_Mary_Jane_Clairmont_-_HLABG.png"
  caption: Shelley - Letter to Clara Mary Jane Clairmont - HLABG
  credit: Eric Polk
  width: 1275
  height: 989
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Mary_Shelley_Signature.png/1280px-Mary_Shelley_Signature.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Mary_Shelley_Signature.png/800px-Mary_Shelley_Signature.png"
  caption: Mary Shelley Signature
  credit: Mary Shelley
  width: 246
  height: 84
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Time to publish a novel
  thenValue: 2-3 years from completion to print
  thenYear: 1818
  nowValue: 3-6 months for traditional publishing, days for self-publishing
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Shelley began writing Frankenstein in 1816; publication took two years
- metric: Science fiction titles in print
  thenValue: Fewer than 10 recognized works
  thenYear: 1818
  nowValue: Tens of thousands of active titles
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Frankenstein is considered among the earliest proto-science fiction novels
- metric: Female authors in major publishing
  thenValue: Less than 5% of published authors
  thenYear: 1818
  nowValue: Approximately 45% of traditionally published authors
  nowYear: 2023
  note: Shelley published anonymously as 'By a Man' initially
- metric: Book production run for a novel
  thenValue: 500-1,000 copies typical first edition
  thenYear: 1818
  nowValue: 2,000-5,000 copies for debut literary fiction
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Frankenstein's first edition was limited to approximately 500 copies
consequences:
- title: Founding of science fiction as a literary genre
  year: 1818
  description: Frankenstein established the template for science fiction by grounding speculative premise (reanimation through scientific means) in rationalist inquiry rather than pure fantasy, influencing how the genre approached technology and its consequences
- title: Gothic novel evolution
  year: 1820
  description: Shelley's fusion of Gothic atmosphere with scientific rationalism prompted subsequent Gothic authors like Charles Maturin and John Polidori to incorporate scientific and philosophical elements into their works
- title: Women's authorship legitimacy
  year: 1823
  description: When Shelley's authorship was publicly confirmed in the 1823 edition introduction, it strengthened arguments for women's intellectual capacity and creative authority in an era when female writers faced systematic dismissal
- title: Frankenstein as cultural metaphor
  year: 1831
  description: By the 1831 revised edition, Frankenstein had become a shorthand for the dangers of unchecked ambition and scientific hubris, entering political and social discourse as a cautionary archetype
- title: Adaptations across media
  year: 1910
  description: Thomas Edison's 1910 film adaptation marked the first cinematic adaptation and demonstrated Frankenstein's transmedia potential, establishing a franchise that would define monster culture for a century
culturalContext:
topMusic: []
topFilms: []
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: 1818 saw the peak of Romanticism's influence across Europe, with emphasis on emotion, individualism, and nature as counterpoint to industrial rationalism. Shelley's novel emerged from this dialectic—a Gothic-Romantic narrative that grappled with Enlightenment science and its ethical limits. She had begun writing Frankenstein in 1816 during the famous ghost-story competition at Villa Diodati in Switzerland with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The post-Napoleonic period created anxiety about power, ambition, and the costs of progress, themes that animated her work. Contemporary literary culture was dominated by Byron, Keats, and Wordsworth; Shelley's intellectual engagement with her Romantic peers while charting her own literary path was distinctive.
relatedQueries:
- Mary Shelley Frankenstein 1818 original publication
- Victor Frankenstein character analysis
- first science fiction novel history
- Mary Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley marriage
- Frankenstein anonymous publication female author
- Gothic novel Romanticism 1818
- creature monster sympathy Frankenstein
- Villa Diodati ghost story competition 1816
