SHELLEY, MaryBiblio.com
7 102 résultats
1829réf. 12061033 Somerset Street London: 23 December 1829. A disdainful review of "an ardent Shelleyan" A scarce signed letter from Mary Shelley to John George Cochrane the Scottish editor and publisher of the Foreign Quarterly Review. Shelley is unforgiving in her response to a request for a review of Stendhal's Promenades dans Rome: "I have not forgotten or neglected my task but M. Beylses' book is so trite so unentertaining - so very commonplace that I have found it quite impossible to do anything with it". Shelley and Stendhal shared a complete devotion to Italy. For Shelley her travels through Italy were a pilgrimage to "a land not only beautiful and exotic but sacred to what she considered the greatest civilization human beings had ever created heir to the Greeks" Sunstein p. 152. Stendhal while similarly enchanted by the country's rich history and culture used his travels as a springboard to muse on his own philosophies - many of which were antagonistic to Shelley's worldview. On reading Stendhal's Promenades Shelley must have been pained to see her beloved Italy used as a justification for political and moral standpoints she disavowed. Stendhal was not so icy towards Shelley and her late husband. In her biography of Mary Sunstein paints a picture of Stendhal as "an ardent Shelleyan" who drew on Mary and her husband for his novel Armance: "Proud reserved but passionate noble-minded her brow too prominent her principles too elevated she never lies but is forced into caution to preserve her integrity in an alien society that prizes money rank and appearances". While their circles overlapped it's uncertain that they ever met. Stendhal falsely claimed in one of his works to have met Percy Bysshe Shelley and it is likely that he avoided close contact with the poet's widow. This letter is one of 21 autograph letters acquired from the Mary Shelley specialist Professor Jean de Palacio of the University of Lille - this small clutch aside autograph letters from Mary Shelley very seldom come to market. Single leaf 182 x 111 mm. Remains of wax seal generally faded and spotted small patch of tape repair to verso fair condition. Emily Sunstein Mary Shelley: Romance and Reality 1989. unknown
1820réf. 194489London: C. and J. Ollier 1820. To love and bear; to hope till Hope creates / From its own wreck the thing it contemplates. First edition second issue with "miscellaneous" spelled correctly on contents page. This lyrical drama revisits the Greek myth of Prometheus who defying the gods gave fire to humanity resulting in his eternal punishment and suffering at the hands of Zeus. Inspired by the classical Prometheia a trilogy of plays attributed to Aeschylus Shelley's play focuses on Prometheus's release from captivity. The "Miscellaneous Poems" section includes some of the shorter lyrical masterpieces for which Shelley is best remembered such as "The Cloud" "Ode to the West Wind" and "To a Skylark". Octavo 222 x 139 mm. Contemporary green pebble-grain full morocco spine with gilt-ruled compartments with gilt titles and raised bands triple gilt fillet border turn-ins elaborately gilt-rolled top edge gilt. Minor rubbing to spine ends and corners of boards: a very good copy. hardcover
1901réf. ST20827London: Printed at the Ballantyne Press for Vale Press 1901-02. ONE OF 300 COPIES on paper and 10 on vellum. 240 x 145 mm. 9 1/2 x 5 3/4". Three volumes. VERY PRETTY GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO GILT BY BAYNTUN-RIVIERE stamp-signed on front turn-ins covers framed by long-stemmed pansies raised bands spine compartments with pansy centerpieces densely gilt turn-ins marbled endpapers top edge gilt other edges untrimmed. Fine elaborate woodcut initials and four pages with intricate borders all by Charles Ricketts. Ransom p. 436; Tomkinson p. 170. A breath of shelfwear to tail edges occasional trivial foxing but A BEAUTIFUL SET clean and fresh internally in unworn bindings. This is a particularly beautiful English set being printed in London by one of the most important Arts & Crafts private presses and being bound in Bath by an eminent long-lived bindery. The Vale Press was founded--and closely supervised by--Charles Ricketts who was perhaps the most significant figure in the private press movement after William Morris. From 1896-1903 Ricketts ran the Vale Press which produced books that in Cave's words were "far truer to the spirit of fifteenth-century printing than Kelmscott work." The Press issued nearly 50 titles and both its impressive output and considerable artistic success can be attributed to the fact that Ricketts who was remarkably skilled as a designer painter and illustrator was in control of every facet of the operation. Tomkinson observes that "although the actual printing was done on the premises of the Ballantyne Press the Vale books were built entirely on Mr. Ricketts' design under his personal supervision on a press set apart for his sole use; the founts decorations illustrations including the engraving on the wood watermarks and pagination were all the work of Mr. Ricketts and it is doubtful if in the history of printing books have been made which reflect the invention and work of one man more explicitly than do the Vale books." Our bindings are the work of a firm created by the merger of two venerable English binderies. Founded in Bath in 1894 the Bayntun bindery has provided beautiful bindings for bibliophiles for more than 130 years. In 1937 Bayntun acquired the Riviere bindery which had been in business since 1829 and began signing its bindings "Bayntun-Riviere" as here. It is now the last of the great Victorian trade binderies still in family ownership. Although he lived only 30 years Shelly 1792-1822 left an enduring legacy. His remarkable lyricism powerful imagination energetic espousal of political change and vision of the consequential role of the poet he said "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" combined to exert lasting influence on the poets who came after him. The pansy motif used here--for the marginal decoration in the text as well as in the all-over design of the bindings--is especially apt: in his poem "Remembrance " Shelley wrote "Pansies let MY flowers be" emphasis his. [Printed at the Ballantyne Press for] Vale Press unknown
1901réf. ST20827London: Printed at the Ballantyne Press for Vale Press 1901-02. ONE OF 300 COPIES on paper and 10 on vellum. 240 x 145 mm. 9 1/2 x 5 3/4". Three volumes. VERY PRETTY GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO GILT BY BAYNTUN-RIVIERE stamp-signed on front turn-ins covers framed by long-stemmed pansies raised bands spine compartments with pansy centerpieces densely gilt turn-ins marbled endpapers top edge gilt other edges untrimmed. Fine elaborate woodcut initials and four pages with intricate borders all by Charles Ricketts. Ransom p. 436; Tomkinson p. 170. A breath of shelfwear to tail edges occasional trivial foxing but A BEAUTIFUL SET clean and fresh internally in unworn bindings. This is a particularly beautiful English set being printed in London by one of the most important Arts & Crafts private presses and being bound in Bath by an eminent long-lived bindery. The Vale Press was founded--and closely supervised by--Charles Ricketts who was perhaps the most significant figure in the private press movement after William Morris. From 1896-1903 Ricketts ran the Vale Press which produced books that in Cave's words were "far truer to the spirit of fifteenth-century printing than Kelmscott work." The Press issued nearly 50 titles and both its impressive output and considerable artistic success can be attributed to the fact that Ricketts who was remarkably skilled as a designer painter and illustrator was in control of every facet of the operation. Tomkinson observes that "although the actual printing was done on the premises of the Ballantyne Press the Vale books were built entirely on Mr. Ricketts' design under his personal supervision on a press set apart for his sole use; the founts decorations illustrations including the engraving on the wood watermarks and pagination were all the work of Mr. Ricketts and it is doubtful if in the history of printing books have been made which reflect the invention and work of one man more explicitly than do the Vale books." Our bindings are the work of a firm created by the merger of two venerable English binderies. Founded in Bath in 1894 the Bayntun bindery has provided beautiful bindings for bibliophiles for more than 130 years. In 1937 Bayntun acquired the Riviere bindery which had been in business since 1829 and began signing its bindings "Bayntun-Riviere" as here. It is now the last of the great Victorian trade binderies still in family ownership. Although he lived only 30 years Shelly 1792-1822 left an enduring legacy. His remarkable lyricism powerful imagination energetic espousal of political change and vision of the consequential role of the poet he said "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" combined to exert lasting influence on the poets who came after him. The pansy motif used here--for the marginal decoration in the text as well as in the all-over design of the bindings--is especially apt: in his poem "Remembrance " Shelley wrote "Pansies let MY flowers be" emphasis his. [Printed at the Ballantyne Press for] Vale Press unknown books
1826réf. 002230London for Duncombe n.d. 1826 1826. 1 vol. 5-13/16" x 3-9/16" 3-28pp. with the engraved frontis portrait plate with Shelley's name misspelled "Shelly" internally clean and bright closely trimmed first leaf with slight loss to a few letters hardbound in recent brown cloth gilt title and date to front cover. There appear to be three distinct title-page variants. 1. The Man and the Monster or the Fate of Frankenstein. 2. Frankenstein; or The Man and the Monster! With Mary Shelley's name misspelled "Shelly" 3. Frankenstein; or The Man and the Monster! With Mary Shelley's name correctly spelled "Shelley" RBH locate 8 copies and only 1 copy with "Shelly" misspelled but all versions are very scarce. This edition precedes the third London edition by 5 years and provided the narrative for a theatrical production of Frankenstein staged July 3 1826 as performed at the London Theatres. The playbill lists the characters and actors who played them. One Mr. O. Smith features here as The Monster and his portrait in costume is used as the frontispiece. First produced three years after Richard Brinsley Peake's play Presumption Milner's play was the first to show the actual creation scene p.10/11. Milner took major liberties with Mary Shelley's original novel. Like Peake Milner made the Monster a mute but in this case a confused and sympathetic one. Milner also made Frankenstein an egomaniacal cad complete with an abandoned girlfriend and child. These changes would figure prominently in the familiar film adaptations by Universal and Hammer more than a century later. It also has a heck of an ending with the Monster leaping to his death in Mount Etna during an eruption. London, for Duncombe, n.d., [1826] hardcover
1899réf. 604London: Macmillan and Co 1899. Very Good. Full leather binding reddish-brown morocco boards decorated with three tall stylized flower stems in blind with darkened floral heads and small gilt dots. Similar tooling repeated on the spine titled "Shelley's Works"; all edges trimmed patterned endpapers in soft yellow pink and gray tones. Executed for the Guild of Women-Binders with the stamp "Guild of Women-Binders" in gilt at the lower turn-in of the marbled pastedown. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Shelley with tissue guard. Leather shows some speckling a few small surface marks and minor wear to extremities. Frontispiece leaf with tidemark in upper margin and some offsetting to the facing page. The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley first published in 1890 this copy is a later printing some nine years later rebound by the then newly formed Guild of Women-Binders. The Guild operated only from about 1898 to 1904 promoting and training women to enter the field of bookbinding. Case 1. Macmillan and Co unknown
1819réf. 219217Livorno Italy: Printed for C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street 1819. First edition one of 250 copies without initial blank. 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo 9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm. Bound in full green morocco gilt spine t.e.g. by Riviere & Sons professionally rebacked in invisible fashion spine gilt very slightly sunned else fine. Bookplate of Robert Hoe and Blairhame. First edition one of 250 copies without initial blank. 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo 9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm. First edition of Shelley's dramatization of this dark tale of parricide child abuse and incest - based on actual events - and arguably the most enduring Romantic verse-play. Only 250 copies were printed according to Shelley himself. According to Granniss "With the exception of Queen Mab The Cenci is the only one of Shelley's works which reached a second edition during his lifetime ." On the other hand the play was never staged until the Shelley Society produced it on the occasion of Robert Browning's birthday on May 7 1886. Granniss 50; Ashley V 69; not in Tinker Printed for C. and J. Ollier Vere Street, Bond Street unknown
1817réf. 372516London: Printed for C. and J. Ollier 1817. First edition first issue with title page dated 1817 of the revised text of "Laon and Cythna" with the cancels and new title leaf d1 bearing the Pindar quote and "Revolt of Islam" title. Pp. ii v-xxxii 2 270 1 errata. Without blank b2 as usual. 1 vols. 8vo. Original boards. Spine renewed retaining original printed paper label. Bookplate of Frederick Locker. Full morocco slipcase cloth chemise. First edition first issue with title page dated 1817 of the revised text of "Laon and Cythna" with the cancels and new title leaf d1 bearing the Pindar quote and "Revolt of Islam" title. Pp. ii v-xxxii 2 270 1 errata. Without blank b2 as usual. 1 vols. 8vo. "Submitting to the pressure brought to bear upon him by his publisher Charles Ollier Shelley made serious alterations in his text and by doing so severed the relationship of brother and sister which in the original version had existed between the hero and heroine" - Wise. The essence of the changes can be seen at pages 42 and 44: Canto XXI opens "I had a little sister whose fair eyes" is changed to An ophan with my parents lived whose eyes" ; and in Canto XXV line two reads in the original "To love in human life - this sister sweet;" here revised to "To love in human life - this playmate sweet". Locker had a copy of the unrevised Laon and Cythna in his collection as well as this edition. Granniss 43-44; Ashley 5:68; Wise A Shelley Library p. 49; Rowfant Library Printed for C. and J. Ollier unknown
1819réf. 219217Livorno Italy: Printed for C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street 1819. First edition one of 250 copies without initial blank. 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo 9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm. Bound in full green morocco gilt spine t.e.g. by Riviere & Sons professionally rebacked in invisible fashion spine gilt very slightly sunned else fine. Bookplate of Robert Hoe and Blairhame. First edition one of 250 copies without initial blank. 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo 9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm. First edition of Shelley's dramatization of this dark tale of parricide child abuse and incest - based on actual events - and arguably the most enduring Romantic verse-play. Only 250 copies were printed according to Shelley himself. According to Granniss "With the exception of Queen Mab The Cenci is the only one of Shelley's works which reached a second edition during his lifetime ." On the other hand the play was never staged until the Shelley Society produced it on the occasion of Robert Browning's birthday on May 7 1886. Granniss 50; Ashley V 69; not in Tinker Printed for C. and J. Ollier Vere Street, Bond Street unknown books
1817réf. 372516London: Printed for C. and J. Ollier 1817. First edition first issue with title page dated 1817 of the revised text of "Laon and Cythna" with the cancels and new title leaf d1 bearing the Pindar quote and "Revolt of Islam" title. Pp. ii v-xxxii 2 270 1 errata. Without blank b2 as usual. 1 vols. 8vo. Original boards. Spine renewed retaining original printed paper label. Bookplate of Frederick Locker. Full morocco slipcase cloth chemise. First edition first issue with title page dated 1817 of the revised text of "Laon and Cythna" with the cancels and new title leaf d1 bearing the Pindar quote and "Revolt of Islam" title. Pp. ii v-xxxii 2 270 1 errata. Without blank b2 as usual. 1 vols. 8vo. "Submitting to the pressure brought to bear upon him by his publisher Charles Ollier Shelley made serious alterations in his text and by doing so severed the relationship of brother and sister which in the original version had existed between the hero and heroine" - Wise. The essence of the changes can be seen at pages 42 and 44: Canto XXI opens "I had a little sister whose fair eyes" is changed to An ophan with my parents lived whose eyes" ; and in Canto XXV line two reads in the original "To love in human life - this sister sweet;" here revised to "To love in human life - this playmate sweet". Locker had a copy of the unrevised Laon and Cythna in his collection as well as this edition. Granniss 43-44; Ashley 5:68; Wise A Shelley Library p. 49; Rowfant Library Printed for C. and J. Ollier unknown books
1823réf. 184283London: C. and J. Ollier and W. Simpkin and R. Marshall 1823-24. My name is Ozymandias king of kings First editions second issue of the Poetical Pieces. The two volumes together feature a collection of Shelley's major works some printed here for the first time in book form including "Ozymandias". Poetical Pieces is a posthumous gathering of unsold first editions of Shelley's poetry comprising Rosalind and Helen 1819 Prometheus Unbound 1820 and the second edition of The Cenci 1821. The second collection Posthumous Poems was "gathered by Mrs. Shelley from disordered papers left by her husband" Grannis and is without the errata slip. They contain the first printings of several of her husband's major poems including Mont Blanc Julian and Maddalo and The Triumph of Life as well as shorter lyrics fragments and translations from Homer Euripides Goethe and others. Shelley's long poem Rosalind and Helen a conversational lament for a disappointed poet-reformer set on the shores of Lake Como was begun in Marlow and completed in 1818 at the baths of Lucca in Tuscany. This collection also includes the first book appearances of "Lines Written on the Euganean Hills" and "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" composed during that "wet ungenial" summer of 1816 which the poet spent on Lake Geneva with Mary Claire Clairmont Byron and Polidori. The trip also resulted in Mary's Frankenstein Byron's Mazeppa and Polidori's The Vampyre. "Ozymandias" is erroneously listed as "Sonnet" on page 98 as issued. The second issue of Poetical Pieces was compiled in the same year as the first but with Hellas omitted. 4 vols bound in 2 octavo 211 x 130 mm. Modern tan calf red morocco labels compartments elaborately decorated in gilt covers ruled with gilt and blind roll Poetical Pieces with marbled edges. Housed in a custom yellow patterned-paper covered slipcase with brown calf edges. Neat pencil annotations to a few pages. Minor scuffs to covers edges of Posthumous Poems toned and with couple of marks sporadic foxing to both vols. A very good well-margined set. Granniss 77 & 78. unknown
1823réf. 001228London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker 1823 1823. FIRST EDITION OF HER SECOND NOVEL. 3 vols. 7-3/16" x 4-7/16" bound in 1/2 tan speckled calf gilt decorated spines gilt lettered black morocco spine labels marbled edges internally clean and bright inner and outer hinges fine head and foot of spines fine a VERY GOOD set. Shelley's second novel a study of sexual politics considered by many to be her finest work. "Her creation of Frankenstein at the age of eighteen is a marvel known to many; but few if any are aware that Valperga her second novel excels the first almost as much as Alastor surpasses Queen Mab. It is indeed her best novel having a richness of imaginative style and a creative force in combination with a thoroughness of scholarship that are exhibited in none of her other works. Shelley and Godwin enthusiastically recognized its advance beyond Frankenstein and rightly expected great things of her in the future." Frederick L. Jones The Letters of Mary W. Shelley London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1823 unknown
1823réf. 001228London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker 1823 1823. FIRST EDITION OF HER SECOND NOVEL. 3 vols. 7-3/16" x 4-7/16" bound in 1/2 tan speckled calf gilt decorated spines gilt lettered black morocco spine labels marbled edges internally clean and bright inner and outer hinges fine head and foot of spines fine a VERY GOOD set. Shelley's second novel a study of sexual politics considered by many to be her finest work. "Her creation of Frankenstein at the age of eighteen is a marvel known to many; but few if any are aware that Valperga her second novel excels the first almost as much as Alastor surpasses Queen Mab. It is indeed her best novel having a richness of imaginative style and a creative force in combination with a thoroughness of scholarship that are exhibited in none of her other works. Shelley and Godwin enthusiastically recognized its advance beyond Frankenstein and rightly expected great things of her in the future." Frederick L. Jones The Letters of Mary W. Shelley London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1823 unknown books
réf. 033915London: R. H. Porter / Henry Sotheran & Co. Five volumes in seven published between 1896 and 1912. Later half red Moroccan leather with red cloth over boards. Raised spine band and gilt stamped letters. Association Set having previously belonged to Robin Kemp London 1871- who in 1904 worked with Shelley incorporating his help to classify birds he had gathered in Sierra Leone between 1902 and 1904. Having been sent to Sierra Leone as an accountant with a railway firm Kemp filled his spare time collecting bird specimens and soon identified himself as a "Professional Specimen Collector." In addition to two trips to New Zealand and a later trip to Argentine Kemp was commissioned by C. D. Rudd to collect in East Africa from 1908-1911. The genus Kempiella is named for him and Kemp is associated with the discovery of many mammals birds and Mollusca. Whittell H. M. "The Literature of Australian Birds". This set is heavily annotated by Kemp with Vol. I being interleaved with sheets of notes in the meticulous and detailed hand of Kemp. There is also a good deal of penciled marginalia mostly in the first two volumes. Kemp has neatly made checks and underlined names and titles in both red and black pencil. Although this also is mostly seen in Vol. I and II there are scattered markings through all of the volumes except V Pt. II. " Volume I comprises a check-list of species. The remainder of the work takes up the various groups systematically giving descriptions and biographical notes but citing as synonymy only references to the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum and publications not mentioned therein with further citation of the best published illustration; the original description is omitted unless it falls into the category mentioned and even the authorities for the nomenclature are not necessarily included. Many new genera and species are described. The Illustrations are most excellent. The work was published in 8 parts divided as collated above except that Vol. II appeared in two parts --the first including pp. 1-160 and the second the remainder. Vol I is reviewed in the Ibis for July 1896; II Pr. I in July 1900; II Pt. II in Jan. 1901 but published in 1900; II in Oct. 1902; IV Pt. I in the Auk for April 1905; IV Pt II in July 1905; V Pt. I in the Ibis for July 1906; and V Pt. II in Jan. 1913 but publ. probably in 1912. The various signatures bear varying dates which are evidently those of printing not of publication. All of the work except Vol. V Pt. II is from the pen of Shelley who died before the work was complete. The final part was prepared by W. L. Sclater from Shelley's manuscript notes and proofs with some addition of his own. There is an index to each volume except the first but no general index." Zimmer "Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library Part II" pp 589-590. Beautifully illustrated with 57 colored lithographs after Danish naturalist and artist Henrik Gronvold 1858-1940. There are a few very slight scuffs and small marks on the leather spine covers. A few of the title pages show some darkening along the edges and there is a little very slight foxing affecting the first couple leaves of Vol. I and Vol. V Pt. I. All volumes remain tight and show very well. Aside from Kemps' markings and the slight flaws mentioned this remains a very clean and intact set. All 57 plates have been collated and remain in Fine condition. Due to the size and weight of this set additional fees will apply for International and/or Priority shipping. . First Edition. Half Leather - Hardbound. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Henrik Gronvold. 4to. R. H. Porter / Henry Sotheran & Co. Hardcover
1843réf. 020641Rome 6 April 1843. Letter. Mild crease from mailing. Near Fine. A three-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "Mary Shelley" written in Italian on one sheet of an 8" x 5" piece of paper folded to 4" x 5" dated 6 April 1843. A rough translation: "Esteemed Sir. Thank you so much for your card -- and your kindness. I feel ashamed thinking about all the inconvenience that you are experiencing due to that annoying matter strikethrough of Tozzetti but I am pleased that he is not obtaining all he was looking for. He deserved nothing. Thank you for the letter -- maybe others will come for us either sent to your address or simply to Florence. Would you graciously send someone to the post office to ask for our letters and send them here. My debt I would come and pay. I hope it is not too big to be a burden on my conscience and I will find a way to repay it. strikethrough I hope that the weather has improved and that Nerina feels better. I would really love to see you and Nerina again. And who knows if I won't see both in England but first it is easy that we will meet in Florence. Goodbye dear sir. Please consider me your servant and friend. M Shelley." The recipient Tuscan nobleman Bartolomeo Cini was married to Nerina King daughter of Irish writer Margaret King who was a favored pupil of Mary's mother Mary Wollstonecraft. Mary Shelley was in correspondence with him in regard to getting his assistance to retrieve letters by her husband Percy that were sent to King. Shelley's 1840s travels through Europe with her son Percy and his friends formed the basis of her travelogue RAMBLES IN GERMANY AND ITALY IN 1840 1842 AND 1843. unknown books
1820réf. 140949221London: C. and J. Ollier 1820. First edition. Near Fine. First edition typical second issue with "Miscellaneous" spelled correctly on Table of Contents; leaf is a cancel as noted by Forman. 222 2 pp. Bound in the original drab blue boards issued by the publisher no label; half-title and rear ad leaf present. Near Fine with light edge wear light soiling to boards corners slightly softened with some loss of paper at edges from wear. Foxing throughout contents with a few irregular folds and a small chip to the upper corner of pp 219-220. A lyrical drama adapted from Aeschylus' classical drama trilogy Prometheia. Driven by radical idealism and a future Utopia Shelley alters the ending so that Prometheus does not reconcile with his oppressor Jupiter. Instead Jupiter a representation of tyrannical authority is overthrown. Exceptionally scarce in the original boards and uncommon in the trade. Forman 59. C. and J. Ollier unknown
1820réf. 140949221London: C. and J. Ollier 1820. First edition. Near Fine. First edition typical second issue with "Miscellaneous" spelled correctly on Table of Contents; leaf is a cancel as noted by Forman. 222 2 pp. Bound in the original drab blue boards issued by the publisher no label; half-title and rear ad leaf present. Near Fine with light edge wear light soiling to boards corners slightly softened with some loss of paper at edges from wear. Foxing throughout contents with a few irregular folds and a small chip to the upper corner of pp 219-220. A lyrical drama adapted from Aeschylus' classical drama trilogy Prometheia. Driven by radical idealism and a future Utopia Shelley alters the ending so that Prometheus does not reconcile with his oppressor Jupiter. Instead Jupiter a representation of tyrannical authority is overthrown. Exceptionally scarce in the original boards and uncommon in the trade. Forman 59. C. and J. Ollier unknown books
1823réf. 117880London: G. and W.B. Whittaker 1823. Rare first edition of Shelley's second novel which has been called "a meditation on political psychological and sexual power" and is considered by many to be her finest work. 12mo. bound in 19th century three quarter calf over marbled boards by Bumpus gilt titles and tooling to the spine morocco spine labels raised bands. In very good condition contemporary name. A very sharp example. Valperga "was a novel surprisingly long in its gestation " and possibly concurrent with Frankenstein . "Although not published until 1823 its inception actually dates from six years earlier. 'I first thought of it in our library in Marlow' Mary Shelley wrote as she was completing it in 1821." See: Curran Stuart. Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley". The preface details some literary sources for this historical tale of the fourteenth-century despot Castruccio Castracani. In terms of historical fiction it represents a feminine counterpart to the male romanticism of Sir Walter Scott. Ref: Block p 213; Summers A Gothic Bibliography p. 541. G. and W.B. Whittaker hardcover
1829réf. ST17129-039London: Printed for John Brooks 1829. 229 x 152 mm. 9 x 6". xxxii 1 leaf section title 270 2 pp. without the initial blank. LUXURIOUS OLIVE GREEN MOROCCO VIGOROUSLY AND SPLENDIDLY GILT BY ZAEHNSDORF stamp-signed on front doublure and with the firm's oval exhibition stamp on rear endleaf covers framed by multiple plain and decorative rules and garlands of palm and olive branches large central panel densely tooled with 13 horizontal rows of either four or five elegant floral sprigs of various shapes some within flower-framed ovals others on a stippled background; flat spine gilt in similar fashion gilt titling TAN MOROCCO DOUBLURES with intricate central gilt arabesque on a field semé with gilt dots and daggers tan morocco endleaves with gilt border top edge gilt and beautifully gauffered to match the floral design on the covers. From the collection of Cornelius J. Hauck though apparently with his bookplate removed. Granniss 45. Spine sunned toward brown a ubiquitous problem with green morocco very slight rubbing to joints top inch of rear joint a little more significantly so front flyleaf with small closed tear at fore edge title page with small mended half-inch tear in the same place but a very desirable copy nonetheless the text clean and pleasing and the riotously embellished binding almost flaming with gold. With distinguished provenance this is a glittering exhibition binding that makes a memorable display with its fine and dense pointillé ground its exquisitely gauffered top edge and its especially refined floral and leafy ornamentation being particularly notable. A spiritual odyssey of lovers divided and seeking reunion "The Revolt of Islam" is Shelley's longest work despite its title the poem has little if anything to do with Islam though religion is generally addressed. The work was issued late in 1817 as "Laon and Cythna" but certain passages of that piece disturbed the publisher who demanded that they be changed or removed. Shelley reluctantly agreed and his alterations included the substitution of the present title. We have the Brooks edition with a new title page using the text of the first edition second issue with the fly title correctly bound as d1 and the preface ending on p. xxi. As Granniss indicates "the original quires and cancel leaves of the work fell into the hands of John Brooks who issued them in 1829 with a new title." Our volume comes from the illustrious collection of Cincinnati businessman arborist and philanthropist Cornelius J. Hauck 1893-1967 whose fortune was made in the family brewery; the auction of his library at Christie's in 2006 totaled more than $12.4 million this item was lot #593 selling for $3360. Printed for John Brooks unknown
1829réf. ST17129-039London: Printed for John Brooks 1829. 229 x 152 mm. 9 x 6". xxxii 1 leaf section title 270 2 pp. without the initial blank. LUXURIOUS OLIVE GREEN MOROCCO VIGOROUSLY AND SPLENDIDLY GILT BY ZAEHNSDORF stamp-signed on front doublure and with the firm's oval exhibition stamp on rear endleaf covers framed by multiple plain and decorative rules and garlands of palm and olive branches large central panel densely tooled with 13 horizontal rows of either four or five elegant floral sprigs of various shapes some within flower-framed ovals others on a stippled background; flat spine gilt in similar fashion gilt titling TAN MOROCCO DOUBLURES with intricate central gilt arabesque on a field semé with gilt dots and daggers tan morocco endleaves with gilt border top edge gilt and beautifully gauffered to match the floral design on the covers. From the collection of Cornelius J. Hauck though apparently with his bookplate removed. Granniss 45. Spine sunned toward brown a ubiquitous problem with green morocco very slight rubbing to joints top inch of rear joint a little more significantly so front flyleaf with small closed tear at fore edge title page with small mended half-inch tear in the same place but a very desirable copy nonetheless the text clean and pleasing and the riotously embellished binding almost flaming with gold. With distinguished provenance this is a glittering exhibition binding that makes a memorable display with its fine and dense pointillé ground its exquisitely gauffered top edge and its especially refined floral and leafy ornamentation being particularly notable. A spiritual odyssey of lovers divided and seeking reunion "The Revolt of Islam" is Shelley's longest work despite its title the poem has little if anything to do with Islam though religion is generally addressed. The work was issued late in 1817 as "Laon and Cythna" but certain passages of that piece disturbed the publisher who demanded that they be changed or removed. Shelley reluctantly agreed and his alterations included the substitution of the present title. We have the Brooks edition with a new title page using the text of the first edition second issue with the fly title correctly bound as d1 and the preface ending on p. xxi. As Granniss indicates "the original quires and cancel leaves of the work fell into the hands of John Brooks who issued them in 1829 with a new title." Our volume comes from the illustrious collection of Cincinnati businessman arborist and philanthropist Cornelius J. Hauck 1893-1967 whose fortune was made in the family brewery; the auction of his library at Christie's in 2006 totaled more than $12.4 million this item was lot #593 selling for $3360. Printed for John Brooks unknown books
1890réf. 133425London: W. H. Allen & Co 1890. First edition of Lucy Madox Rossetti's biography of Mary Shelley; extra-illustrated and with an autograph letter signed by Mary Shelley laid in. Octavo bound in full crushed levant morocco by Bayntun with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands quadruple gilt ruling to the front and rear panels gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles marbled endpapers all edges gilt extra-illustrated with 77 engraved plates of portraits and views 11 of which are hand-colored including a frontispiece portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley. With a fragment of an autograph letter signed and entirely in the hand of Mary Shelley laid in which reads in full ".to this office the publication being for the benefit of his Widow who at an advanced age & in bad health is left totally unprovided. Many of my father's correspondents have kindly placed in my hands letters of his for the purpose of publication. I looked over the volumes of correspondence with the Revd. Dr. Samuel Parr which you have published & find that you have not. Will you be so good as to. me by an early answer. I am Yours Obediently Mary Shelley 4 Lowes Belgrave St. 23 Sep 1836." After her father's death in April 1836 at the age of 80 Mary began assembling his letters for a memoir for publication as he had requested in his will but after two years of work she abandoned the project. The present letter was likely sent to a publisher before Shelley abandoned the project. From the library of renowned English bibliophile Edward Hailstone with his gilt morocco bookplate to the pastedown. In very good condition. An exceptional example of this rare work; highly desirable with a letter signed by Shelley. English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley remains best-known for her gothic horror novel Frankenstein which remains widely read and is widely regarded as the first true science-fiction story. The circumstances of its composition are by now well known: 19-year old Mary was in Switzerland with Percy Shelley Byron and Byron's physician John Polidori on that famous evening in 1816 when the discussion turned to one of Shelley's favorite topics the supernatural. Byron proposed that all members of the party write a romance or tale dealing with the subject. The resulting efforts were Polidori's The Vampyre Byron's unfinished narrative about a vampire and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein "the most famous English horror novel… a defining model of the Gothic mode of fiction and… the first genuine science fiction novel the first significant rendering of the relations between mankind and science through an image of mankind's dual nature appropriate to an age of science" Clute and Nicholls Encyclopedia of Science Fiction 1099. W. H. Allen & Co unknown
1892réf. 989London: Reeves & Turner 1892. Third Edition. 2 vols. A reprinting of the 1839 original the edition selected by Sangorski & Sutcliffe England's premier bindery as the best choice for the binding they planned based on its typeface paper size and inclusion of all the notes by Shelley's wife Mary an essential source for the study of Percy's work. A fastidiously executed dark blue crushed morocco gilt binding. The outside covers with central gilt panel formed by multiple plain and decorative rolls with cornerpiece clusters of three inlaid lavender morocco pansies front boards with central inlaid cerulean morocco medallion stamped with the poet's gilt monogram rear boards with lavender morocco medallion stamped with a gilt pansy within the quote "Pansies let my flowers be" from "Remembrance" raised bands spine compartments gilt in a latticed pattern. Inside the Doublures are in sky blue morocco the one at the front of the first volume is a Cosway style miniature portrait under glass replicating the 1819 portrait by Amelia Curran now hanging in England's National Portrait Gallery one of the few contemporaneous likenesses of Shelley and the chief source today for Shelley's countenance. The portrait is framed by a laurel wreath set with 6 jewels 3 moonstones and 3 rubies and surrounded by a pointillé field punctuated by foliate sprays terminating in 46 white flowers the other 3 doublures with rows of gilt floral and foliate stamps and a trio of inlaid white blossoms in each corner the bindings with a total of 132 large and small floral inlays ivory moiré silk endleaves all edges gilt and delicately gauffered. Frontispiece in each volume vignette title pages. A fine set in a luscious binding of a body of literature graced with a lyricism "unmatched elsewhere in English verse in its ethereal ideal beauty" -Day. A clipped inscription in Shelley's hand is tipped in. Reeves & Turner unknown
1894réf. 314918Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press 1894. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black ornamental woodcut title borders and initials. 3 vols. 8vo. Original full limp vellum spines stamped in gold issued without silk ties. Light foxing to edges long list of signatures inked to first two blanks of volume one otherwise a fine copy. Housed in custom cloth chemises and blue morocco backed slipcases. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black ornamental woodcut title borders and initials. 3 vols. 8vo. A very nice copy of the magnificent Kelmscott edition of the poems of Shelley with an interesting New York provenance likely from the 1920s. Includes signatures on the two preliminary blank leaves of a number of New York businessmen and philanthropists many with connections to Temple Emanu-El among them: Sam Sherrington Dudley D. Sicher Samuel J. Bloomingdale 1873-1968; son of Lyman Felix M. Warburg Herbert J. Martin Jonah Goldstein J. Edwin Goldman Leo Sulzberger Ralph Samuel Henry F. Samstag Louis J. Rosenbach William Goldman L.A. Ansbacher H.A. Guinzburg d. 1928 Fred M. Stein S.M. Goldberg Manny Strauss Albert J. Lehmann Jos. Gutman Solomon Lowenstein 1877-1942 Z.D. Bernstein Bernard Rosenwald Edwin S. Lorsch Herman Lissner Cyrus L. Sulzberger 1858-1932 Maunie Goodman J.W. Frankel Joseph Wellen Herman Sanders. Peterson A29; Ransom 29 29a 29b. Provenance: From the estate of Arthur Lehmann Kelmscott Press unknown
1892réf. 989London: Reeves & Turner 1892. Third Edition. 2 vols. A reprinting of the 1839 original the edition selected by Sangorski & Sutcliffe England's premier bindery as the best choice for the binding they planned based on its typeface paper size and inclusion of all the notes by Shelley's wife Mary an essential source for the study of Percy's work. A fastidiously executed dark blue crushed morocco gilt binding. The outside covers with central gilt panel formed by multiple plain and decorative rolls with cornerpiece clusters of three inlaid lavender morocco pansies front boards with central inlaid cerulean morocco medallion stamped with the poet's gilt monogram rear boards with lavender morocco medallion stamped with a gilt pansy within the quote "Pansies let my flowers be" from "Remembrance" raised bands spine compartments gilt in a latticed pattern. Inside the Doublures are in sky blue morocco the one at the front of the first volume is a Cosway style miniature portrait under glass replicating the 1819 portrait by Amelia Curran now hanging in England's National Portrait Gallery one of the few contemporaneous likenesses of Shelley and the chief source today for Shelley's countenance. The portrait is framed by a laurel wreath set with 6 jewels 3 moonstones and 3 rubies and surrounded by a pointillé field punctuated by foliate sprays terminating in 46 white flowers the other 3 doublures with rows of gilt floral and foliate stamps and a trio of inlaid white blossoms in each corner the bindings with a total of 132 large and small floral inlays ivory moiré silk endleaves all edges gilt and delicately gauffered. Frontispiece in each volume vignette title pages. A fine set in a luscious binding of a body of literature graced with a lyricism "unmatched elsewhere in English verse in its ethereal ideal beauty" -Day. A clipped inscription in Shelley's hand is tipped in. Reeves & Turner unknown books
1894réf. 314918Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press 1894. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black ornamental woodcut title borders and initials. 3 vols. 8vo. Original full limp vellum spines stamped in gold issued without silk ties. Light foxing to edges long list of signatures inked to first two blanks of volume one otherwise a fine copy. Housed in custom cloth chemises and blue morocco backed slipcases. One of 250 copies. Printed in red and black ornamental woodcut title borders and initials. 3 vols. 8vo. A very nice copy of the magnificent Kelmscott edition of the poems of Shelley with an interesting New York provenance likely from the 1920s. Includes signatures on the two preliminary blank leaves of a number of New York businessmen and philanthropists many with connections to Temple Emanu-El among them: Sam Sherrington Dudley D. Sicher Samuel J. Bloomingdale 1873-1968; son of Lyman Felix M. Warburg Herbert J. Martin Jonah Goldstein J. Edwin Goldman Leo Sulzberger Ralph Samuel Henry F. Samstag Louis J. Rosenbach William Goldman L.A. Ansbacher H.A. Guinzburg d. 1928 Fred M. Stein S.M. Goldberg Manny Strauss Albert J. Lehmann Jos. Gutman Solomon Lowenstein 1877-1942 Z.D. Bernstein Bernard Rosenwald Edwin S. Lorsch Herman Lissner Cyrus L. Sulzberger 1858-1932 Maunie Goodman J.W. Frankel Joseph Wellen Herman Sanders. Peterson A29; Ransom 29 29a 29b. Provenance: From the estate of Arthur Lehmann Kelmscott Press unknown books
