Letter from William Godwin (1756–1836) to George Bartley (1782–1858)

This letter marks the beginning of William Godwin’s pursuit of a new opportunity to bolster his daughter’s literary reputation and earn her much-needed money. He writes to the actor and theatre manager George Bartley: “I see announced in your play-bill of this day, ‘Presumption, or The Fate of Frankenstein’,” and he asks if it is based on the novel. The play had a striking debut one week later, and Godwin immediately ordered the printing of 500 copies of a “New Edition” of Frankenstein, which he saw through the press himself. The edition took two weeks to produce and was published on August 11, 1823, two weeks before Mary Shelley returned to London from Italy.