Frankenstein, from shelf to scan

The assistant looked up the ISBN in Open Library, followed it to the work and its author, counted the editions and the works about the monster, listed the work's scans and the earliest texts on archive.org, checked who may read them, and then opened the 1831 scan: its manifest, a page image, its OCR word boxes and its readers. Each section below names the tools that made it; all 16 calls, in order, with what each returned, are in the receipts at the end.

1. ISBN9780141439471Penguin Books, 2003, paperback, 273 pagesopenlibrary_edition
2. editionOL3701481Mof work OL450063W; its own scan: frankensteinormo0000shel_d5q4openlibrary_edition
3. workFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheusfirst published 1818; 2,187 editions, 92 scans on archive.orgopenlibrary_work
4. scans92 scansthe first five checked, dated 1849, 1869, 1831, 1891, 1869: all publicopenlibrary_scan
5. the scanghostseer01schiuoft1831, 398 pages; edition OL7092075Mbook_availability

The paperback and the old edition are the same work, but not the same loan. Open Library answered for each:

The paperback's cover is at an Open Library address the tool returned, https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780141439471-M.jpg; this site doesn't load images from elsewhere, so it isn't shown.

Mary Shelley, 30 August 1797 to 1 February 1851. Open Library credits her with 750 works; these are the ten with the most editions.

“Bram Stoker's Dracula omnibus” and “Dracula / Sign of Four” are in her list as the catalogue returned it. The first names Bram Stoker in its title, so we take the two Dracula titles as catalogue mix-ups, not as her work.

The scan's IIIF manifest lists 394 scan pages, each with its size and an image address. Its catalogue line: “With: Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus / by the author of The last man, Perkin Warbeck, &c. &c. London : H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831; 26”. Scan page 6 is the engraved frontispiece, 1884 × 3074 pixels in full.

Printed page ix, the 1831 introduction, as the OCR saw it: get_hocr returned 303 words with a box and a confidence for each; the first 80 are drawn over the top of the page. Hover a box or a word to see what the machine read and how sure it was.

All word boxesOnly confidence under 25No boxes

INTRODUCTION. IX would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature, and awaken thrilling horror — one to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart. If I did not accomplish these things, my ghost story would be unworthy of its name. I thought and pondered — vainly. I felt that blank incapability of invention which is the greatest misery of authorship, when dull Nothing replies to our anxious invocations.

Show the words and their confidence as a table

Word	Confidence
INTRODUCTION.	22
IX	7
would	28
speak	29
to	30
the	29
mysterious	28
fears	29
of	28
our	29
nature,	27
and	29
awaken	28
thrilling	29
horror	29
—	30
one	29
to	30
make	28
the	29
reader	29
dread	29
to	29
look	29
round,	28
to	29
curdle	30
the	29
blood,	29
and	29
quicken	28
the	29
beatings	29
of	12
the	30
heart.	29
If	29
I	30
did	29
not	29
accomplish	29
these	30
things,	29
my	27
ghost	29
story	29
would	29
be	29
unworthy	29
of	29
its	29
name.	29
I	30
thought	29
and	30
pondered	29
—	30
vainly.	29
I	30
felt	29
that	29
blank	26
incapability	30
of	30
invention	30
which	30
is	29
the	29
greatest	29
misery	29
of	30
authorship,	29
when	29
dull	29
Nothing	29
replies	29
to	29
our	29
anxious	30
invocations.	30

Confidence is the number the hOCR gives each word. 3 of these 80 words are under 25: “INTRODUCTION.” (22), “IX” (7), “of” (12); the rest are between 26 and 30.

All 16 calls of the run, in the order they were made, with what each returned. Open one to see when it was taken and which sections it made; press Play to watch them arrive.

The 1831 edition is in the public domain in the United States, so its text and engravings are shown in full. Catalogue records are Open Library's, as its tools returned them on 1 November 2026 (UTC); edition counts, scans and views change as the catalogue and the Archive grow. The 2003 paperback is in copyright: only its catalogue facts and lending status are shown.

The work on Open Library · The 2003 edition · The 1831 scan on archive.org · Mary Shelley on Open Library