Lot 160
Shelley, Percy Bysshe
Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: 10 January 2007 at 11:00 GMT
Description
Queen Mab. London: R. Carlile, 1822, second published edition, with final leaf containing dedication poem "To Harriet" at end, original boards, uncut, neatly rebacked, paper label, the one line slip on p.182 which should replace Clark's imprint with Carlisle's has been removed (Clark's imprint beneath was deliberately scraped away: see note)
Footnote
Note:A very good copy of the second published edition, a reissue of the W. Clark sheets of 1821 by the radical publisher Richard Carlile, who would have sympathized with the poem's attacks on dogma and on the state of society. For publishing the 1821 edition the publisher W. Clark was sentenced to four month's imprisonment. Some copies of Clark's edition reproduce the original text, others omit the dedication to Harriet and certain words and lines, mainly on pages 146-8. Although Shelley's name appears on the title-page he denied any part in the production. After Clark's imprisonment the remaining sheets fell into the hands of Richard Carlile, wwho reissued them both in the original (apparently as here) and mutilated forms.