Mary, Who Wrote Frankenstein — Original Manuscript

 

Well, this was definitely the highlight of this trip to me. In fact, I'd call it a peak moment in my life!

Before leaving home, Ellen and I both researched our favourite writers so we'd know where to find them on our literary pilgrimage. One of my searches was for Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. I felt that I already knew her fairly well, having spent years working on a picture-book biography about her life and her writing of Frankenstein. Like many people, I was amazed by Mary's story. Writing a book about her was a joy.

So imagine my delight when I discovered that the original Frankenstein manuscript was in Oxford — which was on our route! It was physically THERE in the Bodleian Library! Mary's masterpiece, in her own words, handwritten in notebooks that are now 200 years old.

I wrote to the Bodleian and begged for a peek. Although the manuscript is not on display, it is sometimes available to scholars. My biographer credentials got me permission for what I expected to be a quick glance. Instead, I was warmly welcomed and got to spend the better part of an hour reading and studying the original words, complete with cross-outs, write-overs and editorial notes from Mary's partner, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

By the end,  I was literally shaky with excitement . . .

That hour alone was worth this trip. 

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Oxford, Just as Imagined . . .

Did we really have only three days in Oxford? Not long enough!

We were lucky to show up just before the fall term (Michaelmas) began, which meant that college dorms were still available for "summer" visitors like us. Ellen booked us into a sweet little room at Keble College. This was our view in the evenings . . .

And in the morning, when we crossed the quad to eat breakfast in the glorious dining hall, it was easy to pretend, just briefly, that we belonged. A borrowed moment from lives we had lived only in books.

 

 

 

And speaking of books, the Bodleian Library is extraordinary, inside and out.

 

 

 

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