After Dark at Dove Cottage: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Our second spooky event for Hallowe'en week was After Dark at Dove Cottage: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

We all met in the Jerwood Centre of Dove Cottage, surrounded by beautiful books, where we were regaled with tales of eldritch creatures, haunted forests, mad scientists and vampires. Many of our fellow attendees were dressed specially for the evening in Gothic costumes. It was all rather lovely.

During the first half of the evening we explored the haunting story of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, how the book was conceived and the inspiration behind the famous story. 

We glimpsed the very fragile first edition of the novel, only 500 copies were printed in 1818, the year of the first publication. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is probably the most famous Gothic novel and the first modern science fiction novel in the English language.

There was also the opportunity to enjoy illustrated editions of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a Gothic poem which inspired Mary Shelley, and his masterpiece Christabel. As a child Shelley hid behind the sofa to listen to Coleridge reciting The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to the Wordsworth siblings. 

The second half of the evening took place in a candlelit Dove Cottage where we were regaled with spooky readings from Frankenstein and other Gothic tales, accompanied by some autumnal treats of cordial and cake.

All in all a very seasonal evening in a gorgeous setting surrounded by the ghosts of literary giants.