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Auction Name: 2025 September 26 The Guillermo del Toro Collection: Bleak House Part 1 Hollywood/Entertainment Signature® Auction
Lot Number: 89093
Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/7425*89093
Bernie Wrightson Frankenstein Chapter 12 Published Illustration Plate Original Art from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Novel Adaptation (Marvel, 1977-1983). Bernie Wrightson-the undisputed master of horror illustration-achieved his absolute masterpiece with Frankenstein. Dark beauty from Wrightson's defining work. This haunting image of the Creature by a stream comes from Bernie Wrightson's illustrated edition of Frankenstein, a project he began in 1977 and completed in 1983. Over seven years, Wrightson created approximately 50 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations, each based not on film adaptations but on Mary Shelley's original 1831 text. His goal was to evoke the visual feel of antique woodcuts or steel engravings, inspired by the pen-and-ink masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Franklin Booth, Jason Cole, and Edwin Austin Abbey. The result is a masterclass in hatch and cross-hatch technique, with an obsessive level of detail and dramatic use of light and shadow. This particular plate captures the poignant moment from Chapter 12 in which the Creature, hiding near the De Lacey family's cottage, pauses beside a stream to reflect on his solitude and growing understanding of the human world. It is one of the novel's most emotionally resonant scenes, showing the Creature not as a monster, but as a being shaped by rejection and yearning for connection. Wrightson renders this moment with haunting sensitivity, imbuing the figure with quiet melancholy and grace. Revered in the comic art world, Wrightson's Frankenstein is often cited as his greatest achievement-a true labor of love that continues to influence and inspire generations of illustrators and storytellers. This is one of the finest originals from the book ever to come to market and represents the ideal for collectors: a bold, full image of the Creature, the most desirable subject matter, and a true rarity. Produced in ink over graphite on illustration board with an image area of 11" x 16"; glass-front framed to 20.25" x 25.5". Signed by Wrightson in the lower left of the image area, with "Frankenstein / Page 97" on verso. With Guillermo del Toro signature on back of frame. Exhibits light handling. Unexamined out of mat. Exhibited at LACMA, MIA, and AGO as part of the Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters exhibit (2016-2018). Comes with a COA from Heritage Auctions.
"After Shelley, the Creature and its creator have often been shared with true acolytes who treat them with reverence and love: Whale, Karloff, Isherwood, Brooks, and above and beyond - Bernie Wrightson. Through the decades, I have made it my mission to collect the prime, most exquisite plates of Bernie's Frankenstein. I have managed to do so - even when there are four or five in the hands of other collectors. I part with these in an effort to share this curatorial passion to the next keepers of the flame." From the personal collection of Guillermo del Toro.
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