This Norton Critical Edition includes: The 1826 Henry Colburn edition of the novel, the only one approved by Mary Shelley. Introduction and explanatory footnotes by Chris Washington. A rich selection of contextual documents—twenty-six in all—pertaining to The Last Man’s background and sources, reception and impact, other related works by Shelley, and other “Last Man” texts. Fourteen carefully chosen critical assessments on the novel’s major themes. A chronology of Mary Shelley’s life and work and a selected bibliography