Frankie Goes to Bodleian
The Bodleian Library is trying to raise £3.9m to purchase the original draft manuscript of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
The draft, which was written in 1816-7 and contains many corrections by Mary's husband, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, forms part of the Abinger Papers, the most important collection of Shelley family papers remaining in private hands. Since 1974, the Abinger archive has been on loan to the Bodleian, which already owns the remaining two thirds of the family papers.
An unprecedented grant of £3m has been awarded by the National Heritage Memorial Fund towards the purchase of the collection, which also includes the letters and writings of Mary Shelley' parents, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. Richard Ovenden, Keeper of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian, said: "Thanks to the Fund's outstandingly generous grant, and other donations of almost £350,000, the library now has until March to raise the remaining £500,000 to buy the collection and prevent its dispersal at auction."
15th Jan 2004