There is nothing I love more than coming across a new non-fiction book on Frankenstein, whether it’s on the movie, the novel, or the history, I’m always intrigued to learn more. I have plenty of volumes in my library but can always make room for one more.

But then there is nothing I hate more than coming across a “new” book that after a little digging, looks to be a previously published book, just retitled, making it look like a new book. Now if this was a book way out of print and hard to find, that’s one thing. And if that’s the case, why not just publish an updated edition? Why change the title and the look of it?

Today while browsing, I came across the title Frankenstein Lives: The Legacy of the World’s Most Famous Monster, by Paul Ruditis. Priced at only $20, it looked right up my alley, which I quickly added to my Amazon Want List. I then checked my library spreadsheet to see if I had any other books by this same author. Yes, I do have a spreadsheet of my books. I’m a book nerd. But in this case, it has served me well. I did have another book by Ruditis, called Vault of Frankenstein, that came out in 2018. It’s a great book, with a lot of cool features, such as a reproduction of one of the original manuscripts from Shelley’s novel, a mini poster from The Bride of Frankenstein, a Playbill or an early adaptation of Shelley’s novel, and a few more interesting tidbits.

But then when I started looking at the shots of some of the pages in the Legacy book, I noticed quite a bit of similarities to the Vault book. Turns out, from the pages that I could compare, a lot of looks like the exact same text.

Here’s my issue. When you re-title a book, and don’t make any notice or mention that all, some, or even part of it was already published in a previous book, to me, it seems a little deceiving. Almost like they are hoping people buy it without realizing they might already have it. Again, we’re talking about a book that first came out in only seven years ago, not two decades. Plus, it’s from the same publisher.

If you don’t own a copy of Vault of Frankenstein, and are a fan of the character, then by all means, pick this new edition up. But if you can find a copy of Vault, I would recommend finding that one, since it has a little more fun stuff in there.

We return you to your regular scheduled programming.