The first edition of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ was published in 1818. Liverpool Book Art has an exhibition celebrating this bicentenary from May to mid-August in the magnificent Hornby room of the Liverpool Library. This book and Miserable Apparition have been accepted for display.
Black-bound, hard-backed book, with black ribbon binding reminiscent of funeral.
The use of adjectives of colour echoes, and is often responsible, for the mood of a book. Colour is rare in Mary Shelley’s book, mentioned only sixty-one times.
This book has sixty one pages, hand-sewn in sections, with a page for each word of colour. The end papers list the colours, and they are the only words in the book other than the inset screen-printed title.
Linda Parr 