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Ohio University Libraries Archives & Special Collections

Celebrating Halloween with Rare Books

Mary Moore, PhD Student in Literary History, 2026-27 Rare Book Graduate Assistant  

Long before I arrived at Ohio University, Halloween had secured its place as my absolute favorite holiday. Perhaps because my birthday falls just three days before, perhaps because I grew up in a Halloween loving family and in a city with its own unique Halloween traditions (I’m referring, of course, to St. Louis, MO), or perhaps simply because I have an affinity for the occult; regardless, it was a joy to arrive to OU and find a community that matched my enthusiasm for this holiday.  

Even twenty-four years ago Graduate Assistant Mary Moore, pictured here at age 2, was a Halloween enthusiast!

Ohio University has a long and notorious history for celebrating Halloween, which reportedly began with an “organized” Halloween party in 1974, sanctioned by then dean of students Carol Harter. Halloween parties in the decades since have purportedly waxed and waned in their extremity and flare. Details about this year’s Halloween celebrations in Athens can be found on the official Athens Halloween website, whereas the official university policies regarding guests can be found here.  

If the Uptown celebrations aren’t your scene, or if you’re simply looking for a more bookish way to celebrate this holiday, look no further than the Mahn Center! I first decided to create a showcase of Halloween inspired Rare Book materials shortly after starting as the Rare Book Graduate Assistant (again, Halloween enthusiast here) but that plan solidified after I helped prepare materials for a session of English 3070J, taught this semester by Dr. Joe McLaughlin. For this class we pulled every copy of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein: Or, a Modern Prometheus, of which we hold a whopping 18 copies. Feeling inspired, I am thrilled to share with you today a sampling of our Frankenstein editions and other Halloween related materials we hold in the Rare Book Vault at the Mahn Center.  

Frankenstein

Since its publication in 1818, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has become one of the most famous examples of horror and science fiction known across the globe. Given that we hold 18 copies, I won’t be able to showcase them all. However, because this is both an older, and more importantly enduring text, we have an immense variety of printing examples to share.  

From what I can gather, not a single library or archive in the state of Ohio holds an 1818 edition of Frankenstein. One of our oldest editions housed at the Mahn Center, however, was printed in 1899. This edition is fun to consider for a variety of reasons, including that it was attributed to “Mrs. Shelley” (rather than Mary Shelley). Our edition features an imprint attributing its printing to “The Morning Herald,” which was a short-lived London newspaper, making its printing in a single volume book (rather than, say, a serialized newspaper edition) peculiar. Our edition also features a stamp on the spine stating “Lever Bros.,” likely referring to the 19th century British soap makers (who would go on to form Unilever), who with their industrial printing capacities, primarily used for advertising materials, also purportedly printed cheap versions of popular books. In our case, the likely story we can consider is that our octavo (8vo) edition of Frankenstein was printed by “The Morning Herald” and later bound in red boards by the Lever Brothers. (I’ve traced as much of the provenance of this irregular edition as I could without getting my hands on Mattias Tornquist’s 2026 Tracing Frankenstein: Editions, Performances, and Inspired Fictions, which appears to include an exhaustive print history bibliography).

My favorite detail about this edition is that it was printed on handmade paper, which had predominantly faded into private presses with the popularization of mechanized papermaking during the industrial revolution. (Throughout this blog post I, when possible, reference the size of the book, as I’ve done with this edition, describing it as “octavo” and offering the shortened “8vo.” This informational guide from Abe Books can help provide more information on the different sizes of books from the handpress period and how they relate to the original size piece of paper from which the pages were made!).

Title page stating “Frankenstein” in large, all caps serif font. “Or the Modern Prometheus by Mrs. Shelley” stated below in smaller text. At the bottom of the page “London “The Morning Herald” Library 1899” is printed.
The title page of our 1899 edition at the Mahn Center, featuring the attribution to “Mrs. Shelley.” 

The turn of the century brought about two of my favorite printings that we hold at the Mahn Center. First, we have this beautiful 1900 printing done in London by W. Nicholson and Sons. This edition features a gorgeous, embossed dark green leather cover. Like the 1899 printing, this edition attributes the novel to “Mrs. Shelley” and features a singular attributed illustration on the unnumbered leaf prior to the title page. My absolute favorite edition in our holdings, however, is our 1901 printing, done in Chicago by W. B. Conkey Company, and features a beautiful binding, with boards ½ covered in silver decorated with violets. This edition also features a portrait of the author with her full name: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly. 

A green covered book lies on a brown table with “Frankenstein” embossed in gold w/ decorative florals and designs embossed in black ruling above and below the title across the cover.
The beautifully black and gold embossed cover of our 1900 Frankenstein printing. 
A book sits on a brown table; its cover is grey with purple flowers and green leaves. The spine is wrapped in cream paper and features the text “Frankenstein” printed in a serif font followed by an embellished floral design.
The cover of our 1901 printing of Frankenstein, my personal favorite! 
A white person’s hand with maroon nail polish holds open a book; on the left side is the portrait of a white woman in a black dress with bare shoulders, captioned with the text “Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley” in all caps, in a serif font. The right side features the text: “Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus” in an all caps serif font: “by Mrs. Shelley” in a smaller size, same serif font, and “Chicago W. B. Conkey Company Publishers” in the same serif font, even smaller. The text on the page is surrounded by a gold embossed floral decoration.
The frontispiece portrait of Mary Shelley and the gold embossed title page of our 1901 printing.  

If you thought movie-tie in editions were a 21st century invention, think again! The Mahn Center holds a 1931 British printing that advertises the Universal film of the same year, featuring a movie still as the cover image as well as a list of the actors included on the title page. Our 1934 printing however, is enhanced with incredible—and now iconic—wood engravings by artist and novelist Lynd Ward.

A book sits on a wooden table; the cover features a black and white image of a man dressed as Frankenstein’s monster. At the top of the cover script text reads: “A Universal Film.” Text on top of the image reads: “I live/I breath/I walk/I see/What am I? Man or Monster” in a sans serif font. Below that all large caps text, stylized with bolts, reads: “Frankenstein.” Below that in all caps, red text reads: “the man who made a monster.”
Actor Boris Karloff pictured as Frankenstein’s monster in the 1931 film. He has gone on to be one of the most recognizable Frankenstein’s monster faces! 
A white hand with maroon nail polish holds open a book; a small portion of an orange sweater covers the hand. The left page reads: “Foreword. The Readers Library introduces its millions of patrons a carefully selected list of the world’s most famous books. This Library has been made possible by the use of the most modern methods incorporated in the art of mass book production. The sales have, so far, more than exceeded the wildest estimates of The Reader's Library Publishing Co. Ltd. And copies are to be found in thousands of homes in every part of our Great Empire. Every book is most carefully chosen, and a short biographical and bibliographical note on the author and his words is appended to each volume. The right page features the text: “Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary W. Shelley. On this famous story Universal have based a film starring Colin Clive, Boris Karloff, Frederick Kerr and Mae Clarke. The Readers Library Publishing Company LTD. 66-66a Great Queen Street Kingsway, London, W.C.2.
On this title page you can see that this printing included a list of the actors who starred in the film adaptation.  
A book lies on a brown table: the cover is blue and wrapped in shiny plastic wrap. Lowercase text reads “frankenstein” above a black and white illustration of a figure crawling. Below the illustration all caps white text reads: “Illustrated by Lynd Ward”
The cover of this edition curiously doesn’t include Mary Shelley’s name as author, but instead illustrator Lynd Ward’s name is featured prominently.  

Our last edition from the mid-20th century is an extraordinary 1946 printing done for the Armed Services Collection, resulting in a postcard shaped squatty paperback, more portable for military servicemen during World War II. 

Our most modern, albeit still special editions, include a 2004 edition printed in London by the Folio Society, featuring a black slipcase and illustrations by Harry Brockway. We also hold the 2018 200th Anniversary Edition, produced by Rockport Publishers in Massachusetts and illustrated by David Plunkert.  

A small blue book lies on a brown table. The cover features the text “909. Frankenstein. A horror story by Mary Shelley. Overseas edition for the Armed Forces. Distributed by the Special Services Division, A.S.F. for the Army, and by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for the Navy, U.S. Government Property. Note for Sale. Editions for the Armed Services Inc., a non-profit organization established by the Council of Books in Wartime.” In a red circle white text reads: “Armed Services Edition.” A yellow stripe at the bottom of the cover reads “This is a complete book —not a digest. The cover also features an image of the book Frankenstein with a black and white cover and an image of the creature.
About the size of a postcard, the Armed Services Edition is a rather sturdy paperback, not “pulpy” like I expected. Two details I find interesting about this edition: the attribution that the book is a “horror story” and that it is a complete book, and not a digest/abridgement! 
A dark grey book lies on a brown table. The cover features a silver embossed illustration of lightning over black, woodcut style drawings of mountains.
The 2004 Folio Edition features decorated boards and no dustjacket.  

Lastly, I would be remiss to not include our most artistic renditions of Frankenstein, which include two pop-up books and a horror, science fiction, and fantasy magazine. The magazine is a 1970s edition of the magazine “Castle of Frankenstein,” with our “collector’s edition” featuring a full-cover illustration of the infamous creature and movie stills from the 1957 film “The Curse of Frankenstein.”

Our two pop-up books were both produced in 2010 and with comic book inspired flair. The “red” edition was illustrated by Sam Ita, is heavily abridged, and was produced by Sterling Innovation. The “silver” edition was illustrated by Anthony Williams, colored by Rob Taylor, adapted by Claire Bampton, and features pop-ups designed by David Hawcock; this edition was produced in 2010 by Universe Publishing. I won’t spoil the pop-ups of either edition because the paper engineering really is that spectacular, so you should plan a visit to see them in person! 

A white book lies on a brown table. Text on the cover reads: “Mary Shelley. Frankenstein or, the Modern Prometheus. The 200th Anniversary Edition. Illustrated by David Plunkert. The book cover features an illustration of a face with patchworked skin.
The 200th anniversary edition has one of my favorite covers! 
An illustrated magazine lies on a brown table and features a large illustration of a flat headed, green skinned Frankenstein’s monster. Text reads: “Castle of Frankenstein. February 35c. First Issue Collector’s Edition. Sideways advertisements along the spine of the magazine feature text that reads: “Movielands Monsterally Number!” and “Free Movie Ticket Money! Prizes — Free Subscryptions ! Big Contest News! Further details in the inside back cover.
I was absolutely blown away the first time I pulled the Castle of Frankenstein magazine from its enclosure—isn’t this illustrated cover just incredible! 
A grey book with a black spine lies on a brown table. It features an illustration of a stone castle on a hilly landscape with a green figure in the foreground. Text in red reads: “Frankenstein.” Additional text on the cover reads: “A pop-Up Book” and “by Sam Ita”
The “red” edition pop-up book; this cover gives you a sense of Sam Ita’s artistic style. 
A highly illustrated book lies on a brown table. Text across the cover reads: “Graphic Pops. Classic pop-up tales. Frankenstein. Mary Shelley. Pop-ups: David Hawcock. Story: Claire Bampton. Art: Anthony Williams. Color: Rob Taylor. Illustrations include several images of a menacing figure.
The “silver” edition pop-up book cover is extremely detailed. I like its inclusion of comic book panels in the foreground of the main illustration as it intimates the style of the adaptation enclosed. I also like how each of the contributors is listed.  

Additional Spooktacular Books 

While none of our other spooky books are as well represented at the Mahn Center as Frankenstein, we do hold a variety of other equally enticing editions. 

“Goblin Market” is an 1862 narrative poem written by English writer Christina Rossetti, featuring two sisters tempted with fruit by goblin merchants. You can read the poem in its entirety with The Poetry Foundation, or come and view one of the six editions we have at the Mahn Center. I first encountered this poem in my ENG 7235 Speculative 1890s course with Dr. Joseph McLaughlin, where we read the poem and came to view several of the editions at the Mahn Center. I’ve selected both the first edition and a gorgeous 1893 edition to show to you today. The first edition features an inscription dated 1864 and contains the now iconic frontispiece illustration (typically decorative or informatively depicting a scene from the text, that sits on the page opposite a title page) and title page. The 1893 edition is wrapped in green boards and is gold embossed in a floral pattern. It contains illustrations by artist Laurence Housman.  

A book lies open in a grey cradle on a brown table. The left-side page features a decorative frontispiece illustration of several woodland creatures and a young girl. It features the text: “Buy from us with a golden curl.” The right-side page features an illustration of two women in an embrace. It features text: “Goblin Market and Other Poems by Christina Rossetti.” Below the illustration text reads: “Golden head by golden head.” Additional text reads: “London and Cambridge. Macmillian and Co. 1862.”
The iconic frontispiece and title page illustrations from the first edition printing of “Goblin Market”.   
A green book lies in a grey cradle on a brown table. The cover is embossed with an elaborate gold decorative design and features the text: “Goblin Market.”
The 1893 cover of “Goblin Market” features absolutely incredible, and extremely detailed, gold embossing.  
A book lies open to the title page which includes an elaborate illustration of woodland creatures in clothing. Text on the page reads: “Goblin Market. By Christina Rosetti. Illustrated by Laurence Housman. 1893. Macmillan & Co. London.
The title page for the 1893 printing of “Goblin Market,” featuring an example of the illustrations by Laurence Housman included in this edition.  

Though I was not previously familiar with The Turn of the Screw, I came across it while gathering spooky materials for this blog post. It was published in 1898, written by author Henry James, and is considered a horror novella. The novella follows a governess who, while caring for two children in a remote home, become convinced that the children are haunted! We have a spectacular 1945 edition produced by The Heritage Club, with illustrations by Mariette Lydis. Our copy of The Ghostly Tales of Henry James also includes The Turn of the Screw among other spooky short stories and novellas.  

A grown book lies on a brown table. A silver embossed design takes up most of the cover. Text reads: “The Turn of the Screw. Henry James—Mariette Lydis.”
The minimalist cover of our 1945 copy of The Turn of the Screw features silver embossing that imitates the grooves a screw.  
A book lies on open on a brown table, with a white hand holding the left book corner. The left page features a black and white illustration of a house with large looming trees. The right page features the text: “The Turn of the Screw. By Henry James. With an introduction by Carl Van Doren. & Illustrations by Mariette Lydis. The Heritage Press. New York.”
The frontispiece illustration by Mariette Lydis sets the tone for the spooky novella.  

Another new-to-me text I selected for showcasing is The Shadowy Third and Other Stories by Ellen Glasgow; We hold a 1923 (likely first edition) printing of this short story collection, featuring seven spooky stories. Ellen Glasgow was a Pulitzer Prize winning writer best known for her novel In This Our Life. The Shadowy Third is technically still available to modern readers through print-on-demand services, but I recommend you come and visit our edition at the Mahn Center for an authentic experience. 

A maroon book lies on a brown table. Gold embossed text reads: “The Shadowy Third” and then “Ellen Glasgow.”
The unassuming 1923 cover of The Shadowy Third.  
A book is held open on a brown table. On the left page there is a frontispiece illustration of a woman holding a young girl. On the right page text reads: “The Shadowy Third and Other Stories by Ellen Glasgow. Frontispiece by Elenore Plaisted Abbott. Garden City. New York. Doubleday, Page & Company. 1923.
The frontispiece illustration by Elenore Plaisted Abbott isn’t as spooky as I would expect for a book of ghost stories! 

In some ways Edgar Allen Poe has become synonymous with Halloween and other spooky season literary celebrations. While we have dozens of editions of Poe’s works and biographies, I’ve selected two to showcase to you all. First, we have our 1946 edition of The Raven and Other Poems, which was printed just one year after the poem was first published in a larger collection. We also hold an incredible 2015 printing of Edgar Allan Poe Stories and Poems, produced by Rockport Publishing’s “Classics Reimagined” series, where classic works are paired with modern graphic artists. The illustrations by David Plunkert (who also illustrated our aforementioned 200th anniversary edition of Frankenstein) absolutely bring Poe’s spooktacular work to life.  

A book lies on a brown table with a large portrait of a man with brown hair; a red skull is overlaid over the face of the man. Text on the left side reads: “Edgar Allan Poe Stories & Poems. Illustrated by David Plunkert.”
The incredible cover of the 2015 Edgar Allan Poe Stories & Poems. I love the skull overlaid over the portrait of Poe—it’s so evocative! 
A book is held open to a page with a man’s portrait on the left page overlaid with an illustration of a black bird. On the right page the text of the poem “The Raven” is displayed.
The David Plunkert illustration accompanying “The Raven”— it’s so cool. 

We have two editions of Bram Stoker’s iconic 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula, including a gorgeous 1965 edition produced by the Limited Editions Club in a marbled slipcase. Issued in only 1500 copies, our edition features illustrations by Felix Hoffman who also signed the text. We also hold a copy of the 1979 Dracula: A Toy Theater, which includes set drawings and costumes from the 1977 Broadway revival of the 1927 “Dracula” play, for which costume designer (and illustrator) Edward Gorey won a Tony Award. This book could, in theory, be cut apart to create paper dolls and a paper “toy theater,” though our edition is entirely intact. If you’ve ever wanted to imagine the characters from Dracula as paper dolls, you can come see them at the Mahn Center! Or, if the idea of reenacting Dracula particularly entices you, the Toy Theater set is available for purchase pre-cut from the illustrator Edward Gorey’s website. 

A book lies open on a brown table. The left page is blank, and the right page features an illustration of a bat in flight. Text reads: “Dracula. Bram Stoker. With an Introduction by Anthony Boucher. Illustrated with Wood Engravings by Felix Hoffmann. The Heritage Press New York.
I love the highly stylized title page of our 1965 Heritage Press copy of Dracula, including the menacing illustration of the bat! 
A large spiral bound book lies on a brown table. It is features highly detailed illustrations of a gothic style window. Text reads: “A Toy Theater. Dracula. The sets and costumes of the Broadway production of the play designed by Edward Gorey.”
The highly detailed cover of the 1979 Dracula: A Toy Theater as illustrated and designed by Edward Gorey.  
A spiral bound book lies open on a brown table. Features illustrations of five figures and one black bat.
Here you can view a sampling of the costumes for the play, designed and illustrated by Edward Gorey. I mean, how incredible is Dracula’s cape?  

The Legend of Sleepy Hallow, from which we get the infamous Halloween figure The Headless Horseman, is admittedly not a text with which I am most familiar. However, we hold two editions of the quintessential American tale at the Mahn Center. Our Illustrations of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, printed in 1849, includes both the text and gorgeous illustrations by Felix O C Darley. We also hold a Rip Van Winkle and Sleep Hallow omnibus edition that was printed in 1900. 

A large rectangular book lies on a brown table. The text on the cover reads: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow illustrated by Felix O C Darley Published by The American Art-Union for the Members of MDCCCXLIX.
Our illustrated edition of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a large paperback book. I think it’s interesting to include the name of the illustrator and not the author! 
A book lies on open on a brown table to an illustration of two figures on horses.
The final Felix O C Darley illustration in The Legend of Sleepy Hallow featuring the iconic Headless Horseman [left].

The final text that I’ll highlight is our first edition octavo (8vo) of Clemence Housman’s The Were-Wolf. Concurrently published in both London and Chicago in 1896 by the sister of aforementioned artist/illustrator Laurence Housman, this gothic horror novella tells the story of two brothers encountering a female werewolf (most werewolf media portray werewolves as male). Clemence Housman was, in addition to her work as an author, heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movement. Our edition includes six original illustrations done by her brother, and is additionally inscribed to “Mary B. Housman,” purportedly the cousin of Edward Housman, Clemence and Laurence Housman’s father.

A white page with orange text reads: The Were-Wolf by Clemence Housman With Six Illustrations by Laurence Housman. London: John Lane at the Bodley Head Chicago: Way and Williams 1896. The “T” in the first “The” features an elaborated illustrated floral design.
The decorative title page of The Were-Wolf featuring a drop cap “T.” 
Book is open on a brown table; an illustration of a woman in a large white fur coat and a man crouched beside her is featured in black ink.
One of the six Laurence Housman illustrations in The Were-Wolf. This one depicts the mysterious werewolf White Fell.  

Further Reading

If your interest in the intersection of Halloween and rare books has been piqued by this blog post, there are a variety of other resources that you can consider, including this Halloween blog post by the rare book shop Petter Harrington, the high resolution scans and transcripts from the original Frankenstein manuscripts (held at the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford), this blogpost by JSTOR daily about the competition that prompted Frankenstein, and the book Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years written by Christopher Frayling, an account of the iconic text across media from 1818-2018. 

Of course, if you are interested in seeing any of these materials in person, you are welcome to schedule an appointment in the reading room at the Mahn Center.  

Happy Halloween! 

Works Cited

Frayling, Christopher. Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years. Reel Art Press, 2017.  

Hollow, Betty. Ohio University 1804-2004. Ohio University Press, 2004.   

 

Learn more about Mary (pictured at left in the rare book vault in front of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) along with the other fall 2026 rare book students in the Meet the Students post.

Miriam Intrator

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