[SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT]. Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus. London: Thomas Hodgson, n.d. [1856].
Hardcover. Cloth-bound. Sixth edition. [The Parlour Library CXLIV]. 12mo (165 x 100mm), pp. [xii], 202, (4). Modern cloth-backed marbled boards, paper title-label. The Parlour Library series half-title page present. Framed title-page. Two pages of adverts at rear with latest date 1855. Condition: Binding tight and secure. Covers and contents remarkably clean. Contemporary previous owner signature neatly inked to half-title and title-page. Extremely scarce.
Note: The Parlour Library was the first successful series of fiction reprints originally bound in paper boards, the forerunners of the modern paperback. Founded in 1847 by the Belfast firm of Simms and McIntyre, the series was continued by Thomas Hodgson and a succession of London publishers into the 1860s. Advertised as books 'for all', these shilling volumes, stimulated an unprecedented demand for cheap, attractively packaged new and popular novels. The few copies listed in COPAC and WorldCat have date ranges from 1846-1856, some of which wrongly antedate the foundation of the Parlour Library. Sadleir's date of 1856 is regarded as correct for this edition. Many of the recorded copies are lacking the half-title and, or, adds. [Sadleir 3755a; Lyles B9a].
