ABSTRACT
Being less than scrupulous, that editor, Henry Colburn decided to publicize it as a new work by Lord Byron, for obvious commercial reasons. Sales were too good, however, for Colburn to set the record straight quickly. A work by Byron with autobiographical overtones would sell more copies than a tale by an unknown physician. When Colburn was threatened with a lawsuit, he didn't flinch but blamed the fraud on John Polidori. Colburn still was devious about the credit; he did not withdraw the first printing, and Polidori's name only appeared in the second edition. The other three editions that appeared in 1819 and 1820 either had Byron's name as the author or no name at all on the title page. Mary Shelley finished Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus and published a small first edition of 500 copies in January of 1818.
