The second edition of Frankenstein was published in 1821 in Paris, France. The first edition that was published in 1818 in London was anonymous and did not have Mary Shelley's name on it, but the second edition did.

Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva is the mansion where Mary Shelley was inspired to write the story of Frankenstein while on vacation. She was in the mansion with Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, Bryon's physician. During the rainy days they were there, they coped with the building tension of being stuck inside by reading, telling, and writing ghost stories. The inspiration for Frankenstein was born here, as well as Polidori's The Vampyre.

The Temple of the Muses was the building where the first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published. The company that published the story was called Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor and Jones. In its first publication on January 1, 1818, Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus contained three volumes in the book. The Temple later burned down, but it was monumental in establishing Shelley's work, even though the first publication was anonymous.