In celebration of the 200th anniversary of its publication, we are pleased to announce a limited edition artist book collaboration with Tim Hawkinson: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. The book features an introduction by Todd Hosfelt, proprietor of The Hosfelt Gallery in San Francisco, and nine hypodermic ink drip drawings and a two-color title page vignette by Hawkinson. It is issued in both Standard and Deluxe editions and is Hawkinson’s first artist book.

For the project, Hawkinson built a customized pen tool incorporating a hypodermic needle stylus and gravity-fed ink reservoir. Sheets of butcher paper were pinned to a board fixed to the wall by means of a turntable. These mechanisms in place, a series of horizontal lines was made on the paper. With each horizontal mark, ink dribbled downwards. The paper was spun and the process repeated from different angles to construct a picture. When the drawings are sized-down to fit the pages of the book, the accumulation of lines creates an effect similar to the cross-hatching incised into an etching plate. The resulting black and white drawings appear both surprisingly modern and timeless, departing from the gothic visuals traditionally associated with Dr. Frankenstein’s tale, yet growing directly from the heart of Shelley’s story.

This Arion artist book edition seeks to situate Shelley’s work in a contemporary setting that refocuses the spotlight from the monstrous to the human struggle that drives the core of the story. The themes of the text—the responsibility of a creator for their creation, the ways in which new scientific and technological discoveries can fundamentally change our relationships to each other and the world, the dangers of pursuing knowledge over all other human concerns—ring true even, and especially, today.

Production Details

• Standard edition of 220 copies for sale
  Deluxe edition of 30 copies for sale - Sold Out

• Large octavo, 9 5/8 by 6 3/4 inches, 274 pages

• Standard edition: bound in stamped leatherette, in laser-cut paper chemise, in slipcase with printed ship motif

• Arion publication #115, 2019

Prospectus

Read the full prospectus here.

A limited number of unbound books in sheets are available for bookbinders at a 15% discount.