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The Heir of Mondolfo

Mary Shelley

First published April 1963
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette


First published January 1877 in Appleton's Journal, new series, vol. 2, pp. 12-23, as by "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Author of 'Frankenstein,' etc." Appleton's prefatory note: "This posthumous story by Mrs. Shelley has not before appeared in print. It was found among the unpublished papers of {{a|Leigh Hunt}}, and is authenticated by S. R. Townshend Mayer, Esq., editor of St. James's Magazine, London."

Published in 1976, based on a manuscript, "and the present editor believes that the 1877 printing was based on this MS ...". Probably it was "written before the mid 1820s: i.e., before Mary Shelley began writing for the Annuals where restrictions of space disciplined her art to a greater extent." --Charles E. Robinson, 1976 collection "Notes", XXII, p. 395 (viewed at Amazon)

12,282 words per Project Gutenberg Australia version

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
April 1963 Cover Seven Masterpieces of Gothic Horror Bantam Books Anthology 331
April 1970 Cover Seven Masterpieces of Gothic Horror Bantam Books Anthology 331
1976 Cover Collected Tales and Stories with Original Engravings The Johns Hopkins University Press Collection 308
1990 Cover Collected Tales and Stories with Original Engravings The Johns Hopkins University Press Collection 308
January 2010 Cover Horror Masters Vol. 5 River Styx Publishing Anthology
February 2010 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary Shelley: Volume 1 Leonaur Ltd Omnibus |11
February 2010 Cover The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Mary Shelley: Volume 1 Leonaur Ltd Omnibus
December 2018 Cover Horror Stories Flame Tree Publishing Anthology 311
December 2018 Cover Horror Stories Flame Tree Press Anthology |311
October 2021 The Heir of Mondolfo Project Gutenberg Chapbook