It’s been over 200 years since Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was published on New Year’s Day in 1818. It has since spawned countless film and television adaptations that have made a cultural mark in monster cinema. James Whale’s version of Frankenstein(1931), starring Boris Karloff as the creature, solidified the iconic look of the monster as a cultural phenomenon.
Shelley only released 500 print copies in its first edition with some even thinking the book was too radical in implication. A few found the central theme intriguing, but no one could predict its success. It has gone on to inspire over 120 film adaptations between 1931 through to current years as a new Frankenstein will take to the screens and is currently being adapted by none other than the horror maestro himself, Guillermo Del Toro.
Besides film, the horror icon has been adapted to the stage, in novels, comics, advertisements, and even on cereal packets. Christopher Frayling released the fascinating book Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years, tracing in colorful and engaging ways, its inception and journey from limited edition literature to the bloodstream of contemporary culture. The book is the most comprehensive exploration of Frankenstein to date and includes new, in-depth research on the novel’s origins and a facsimile reprint of the earliest-known manuscript version of the creation scene.
Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years is published by www.reelartpress.com.
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MARY GODWIN, 1816
Reputed to be Mary Godwin at age eighteen, copied from a miniature painted in Geneva, in the summer of 1816.
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MARY GODWIN’S MANUSCRIPT, 1816
Mary Godwin’s manuscript draft of the ‘creation’ chapter of Frankenstein, written in a notebook purchased in Geneva and copied from the story she told on the night in 1816 and is the earliest surviving version.
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SKETCH OF THE MONSTER, 1828
Sketch by Richard Wynn Keene – later known as the designer Dykwynkyn – of the actor O. Smith as the Monster in the first revival of Presumtion!‘ or the ‘Fate of Frankenstein, at the English Opera House, Lyceum, in summer 1828.
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FRANKENSTEIN ILLUSTRATION, 1831
The first ever illustration to Frankenstein, the engraved frontispiece by Theodor von Holst in the 1831 Standard Novels edition.
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AMERICAN FRANKENSTEIN, 1874
Cartoon by Frank Bellew depicting the railroad trampling the rights of the American people titled The American Frankenstein circa 1874.
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BORIS KARLOFF AS THE MONSTER, 1931
Makeup artist Jack Pierce combs the Monster’s wig: according to Boris Karloff, ‘it took from four to six hours a day to make me up…’
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FRANKENSTEIN, 1931
Colin Clive as Dr. Henry Frankenstein, in a publicity still for James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931)
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FRANKENSTEIN, 1931
Original French billboard poster by artist Jacques Faria that starred Boris Karloff.
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FRANKENSTEIN, 1931
Frankenstein poster featuring Mae Clarke and Boris Karloff.
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LYND KENDALL WARD, 1934
Lynd Kendall Ward’s classic woodcut illustrations to the 1934 New York edition of Frankenstein, capturing some of the ambiguities of the original novel.
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LYND KENDALL WARD, 1934
Lynd Kendall Ward’s classic woodcut illustrations to the 1934 New York edition of Frankenstein, capturing some of the ambiguities of the original novel.
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THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1935
Elsa Lanchester as the Bride.
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THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN,1935
Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff.
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BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1935
Boris Karloff
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SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1939
Bela Lugosi (inset), Boris Karloff (inset), Basil Rathbone.
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THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1942
Evelyn Ankers and Lon Chaney Jr.
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I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, 1957
Original American poster for I was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), illustrated by Reynold Brown.
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CURSE OF FRANKESNSTEIN, 1957
Christopher Lee’s makeup applied by makeup artist Philip Leakey.
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THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, (aka FRANKENSTEIN S’EST ECHAPPE),1957
French poster art with Christopher Lee.
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CARRY ON SCREAMING, 1966
Angela Douglas and Fenella Fielding.
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ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN (aka FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN), 1973
US poster art for Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein.
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YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, 1974
Directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilde and Peter Boyle.
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THE ROCKY HORRO PICTURE SHOW, 1975
Directed by Jim Sharman, starring Tim Curry, Peter Finward, Patricia Quinn and Richard O’Brien.
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FRANKENSTEIN, 1977
Winchell’s Donuts advertisement.
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FRANKENSTEIN, (aka MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN), 1994
Robert De Niro as the creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh.
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Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years
Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years.
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