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137 [SHELLEY, Mary, & Percy Bysshe.] History of a Six Weeks’ Tour. London: published by T. Hookham, Jun.; and C. and J. Olliver, [November] 1817 Small octavo (170 × 105 mm). Original publisher’s boards, paper title label to spine. Housed in a green strained grained morocco pull off slipcase and cloth chemise. With the half-title. Bookplate and small bookseller’s ticket to front pastedown. Ends chipped with some further wear at the tail, ver- tical crack down spine, label mostly preserved but for a small flake of loss, joints cracked with discreet cloth repair inside hinges, boards themselves only lightly rubbed and in very smart condition, some minor spotting with- in, still a very good copy in the original boards untouched but for the cloth reinforcement to hinges. first edition of mary shelley’s first book, a rare surviv- al in the original publisher’s boards. History of a Six Weeks’ Tour was put together by Mary while she and Percy were living at Marlowe, where she finished Frankenstein . It comprises Mary’s 81-page journal account of her travels through Europe after her elopement with Percy in summer 1814, to which she added her and Percy’s letters—his relating their second European sojourn, in the summer of 1816, to Thomas Love Peacock. The final addition is Shelley’s poem “Mont Blanc”, which finds its first appearance in print here. £7,500 [129439] 138 SHELLEY, Mary. Valperga or, the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca. London: for G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823 3 volumes, duodecimo (192 × 116 mm). Original boards, paper title labels to spines. Housed in a black cloth folding case. With the publisher’s advertise- ments leaf at the rear of vol. 1., and one at the front and rear of vol. 3. Some cracking to joints but all holding firm, some creasing and a few cracks to the paper and labels down the spines, chip to the tail of vol. 2 and to both ends of vol. 1., otherwise only light rubbing to the extremities of the boards, some minor dampstaining to the edges of front board in vol. 2, a few other minor marks, internally very fresh indeed, with only a few instances of mild
spotting. A very good copy indeed, notably with no evidence of restoration whatsoever. first edition, unrestored in the original boards and rare thus, of Mary Shelley’s second novel. Valperga was written while the Shelleys were in Italy, and pub- lished less than a month after Percy Shelley’s ashes were interred in Rome. Though it did not find favour with the contemporary public, Valperga has been reappraised by critics such as Frederick L. Jones, who notes that it “excels the first almost as much as Alastor surpasses Queen Mab . It is, indeed, her best novel, having a rich- ness of imaginative style and creative force in combination with a thoroughness of scholarship that are exhibited in none of her other works. Shelley and Godwin enthusiastically recognised its advance beyond Frankenstein , and rightly expected great things of her in the future” (p. xxx ). Jones, Frederick L. (ed.), The Letters of Mary W. Shelley , University of Oklahoma
Press, 1944. £12,500
[124952]
139 SHELLEY, Mary. Autograph letter signed to Harriet Boinville. [84 Park Street: March–May 1841?] Single sheet (113 × 90 mm), hand-written across two pages. Lacking first half of letter. Creased from folding as usual with a few small nicks to edges, in very good condition. autograph letter signed to harriet boinville (attributed so by Bennett), sister-in-law to the radical vegan John Frank New- ton. In 1813 Percy Shelley had been close friends with the Boinvilles when married to Harriet Westbrook, and he had also been in love with Harriet Boinville’s daughter. Mary’s letter to Boinville is full of interest, discussing the Godwin family and Claire, then going on to fantasise, from the depths of a debilitating illness, about her travel prospects based upon her European connections: “I passed happy hours among you in Paris—a dark spell has been over me since my return—Tell Alfred I still dream of the Piramids [ sic ]—A friend of mine (with a wife my particular friend) is Chargé d’Affaires at Constantinople—another friend is Prime Minister at Athens—
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