2016 Reprint of 1831 "Popular" Edition. Shelley completed her writing in May 1817, and "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" was first published on 11 March 1818 by the small London publishing house Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones. It was issued anonymously, with a preface written for Mary by Percy Bysshe Shelley and with a dedication to philosopher William Godwin, her father. It was published in an edition of just 500 copies in three volumes, the standard "triple-decker" format for 19th-century first editions.