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Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
1797–1851
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
London: Printed for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, 1818.
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1910
PML 16799
Vol. I, pp. 66–67
Transcription:
p. 66
Henry loved poetry and his mind was filled with the imagery and sublime sentiments of the masters of that art. A poet himself, he turned with disgust from the details of ordinary life. His own mind was all the possession that he prized, beautiful & majestic thoughts the only wealth he coveted—daring as the eagle and as free,
p. 67
common laws could not be applied to him, and while you gazed on him you felt his soul’s spark was more divine—more truly stolen from Apollo’s sacred fire than the glimmering ember that animates other men.