Now you can buy your own copy of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein for about a quarter-million dollars. Update: It actually sold for $1.17 million! What is referred to as the “Manney Copy” of the original 1818 edition of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus in three volumes, from the first 500 run printing from Lackington, Hughes, which went on sale January 1, 1818, at the Temple of the Muses. According to Christie’s, the copies are exceptionally rare, and the only set to appear at auction since 1985 when they were bought by Richard Manney, who then auctioned them at Christie’s in 1991. The books are being sold from the Literature Collection of Theodore B. Baum. described as being in unsophisticated, crisp, and clean condition. Manney was in the advertising field, a buyer for media companies. An avid collector, he said he had 10,000 books he collected from his youth, and the Mary Shelley Frankenstein was among 600 books he auctioned at Christie’s for about $4 million.

The catalog description: “Three volumes, 12mo (190 x 109mm). Half-titles and advertisements in each volume (a few light spots at ends, neat erasures from verso of each title page, and from vol 3 inside front cover). Original blue-gray boards, drab paper spines, printed spine labels, uncut (light wear to spines, with scattered tiny chips at joints and to vol. 2 spine label, 1cm repaired tear to vol. 1 spine); dark blue morocco pull-off case by Riviere with enclosed asbestos lining, chemises. Provenance: E.L.A. Bibl. (ink stamp on verso of each title page) – Richard Manney (his sale, Sotheby’s, 11 October 1991, lot 283).”

This is one of the most significant literature auctions in 30 years. Other books offered from The Exceptional Literature Collection of Theodore B. Baum of 173 lots include five Jane Austen first editions, three from Charlotte Bronte,  a Mutiny on the Bounty, Lord Byron’s Don Juan, Don Quixote, five of Charles Dickens, three Arthur Conan Doyles, Shakespeare, Melville, Dostoyevsky, Darwin’s Origin of the Species, Alexandre Dumas, among others.

The estimated auction price, between $200,000 and $300,000. The auction is scheduled for September 14, 2021.

Christies Baum Literary Auction

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