New Illustrations of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ Inspired by Vintage French Anatomical Studies

By Alison Nastasi

June 22, 2016

The publication anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is entering its 200th year soon. But it was 200 years ago, during a rainy summer in 1816 at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in Switzerland, that Shelley first conceived of her story. Restless Books is celebrating the classic novel with a new illustrated edition of the gothic masterpiece.

The press commissioned Mexican artist Eko to create a series of artworks that reimagine the horror of the tale about a young scientist on an unethical quest and the grotesque creature he brings to life. The book includes 26 original illustrations, inspired by French anatomical studies from the same period that Mary Shelley wrote her novel.

“With my drawings I continue Dr. Frankenstein’s line of thinking and ask the same questions he asks: Is it right for science to create human beings?” writes Eko of the new artworks in the book’s introduction. “Is that ‘creature,’ that ‘monster’ the consequence of human arrogance? Is being familiar with anatomy enough to know what it means to be human?”

A preview of the 200th anniversary edition of Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus is available in our gallery.