Frankenstein Notebook C2

The virtually reconstituted Notebook C2 below is one of several (probably eleven) small soft-covered notebooks in which the Shelleys prepared fair copy for a three-volume version of Frankenstein for prospective publishers and, ultimately, the printer. Of British origin, the notebook contained fair copy for Victor’s arctic pursuit of the Creature in Volume III, Chapter 7 to almost the end of that chapter and the conclusion of the novel, in the midst of the Creature’s final speech to Walton. This portion of the fair copy was written sometime between mid-April and late May 1817, according to Charles E. Robinson’s Frankenstein Chronology.

Notebook C2 was disbound to serve as printer’s copy. It originally consisted of 24 leaves (48 pages) of which 13 leaves are now missing. The remaining 12 leaves now comprise Bodleian MS. Abinger c.58 (formerly designated Dep. 534/2), folios 19r-31v. The bibliographical details of Notebook C2, including paper, watermarks, inserts, and quiring charts, can be found in Charles E. Robinson’s The Frankenstein Notebooks, pp. xlv-xlviii. For the S-GA overview of the composition of Frankenstein, see our Introduction.