1929, ISBN: a7c3db417d08005e81c68a0ba147e92f

1822. [in original boards] London: Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 1822. Original drab paper-covered boards. First Published Edition, second issue -- which is to say, the sheets of… Mehr…

1822. [in original boards] London: Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 1822. Original drab paper-covered boards. First Published Edition, second issue -- which is to say, the sheets of William Clark's 1821 pirated edition, with the 1822 cancel title leaf of radical publisher Richard Carlile. "Queen Mab, a Philosophical Poem [in Nine Cantos] with [Seventeen] Notes" -- Shelley's first major poetic work -- was first privately-printed in 1813. Since it was a radical and revolutionary vision of a utopian world (from an atheistic viewpoint), Shelley never intended it to go beyond his friends. But in 1821 a stash of the undistributed sheets was discovered by London bookseller William Clark, and the result was an 1821 pirated edition (with the help of the infamous book pirate Thomas Moses, whose monogram also appears here on the final page of text). Shelley tried to suppress this Clark/Moses edition, but was unsuccessful because the courts ruled that "books liable to conviction for blasphemy or sedition are not entitled to legal protection." Clark spent four months in prison, courtesy of the Society for the Prevention of Vice; Clark's sheets ultimately fell into the hands of his former employer Richard Carlile, who issued this edition (with his own title leaf) in 1822 -- Shelley having just drowned off the coast of Italy in July 1822. This copy includes, at the rear, Shelley's dedicatory poem "To Harriet *****, which had appeared in his 1813 copies but which Shelley had ever since tried to suppress -- and for good reason... In 1811, 19-year-old Shelley had eloped with 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook, under her threat that she would otherwise take her own life; in July 1814 -- after the 1813 QUEEN MAB was printed with its dedication -- Shelley fled pregnant Harriet for the Continent with Mary Godwin and, after Harriet did in fact take her own life, married Mary at the end of 1816. (In 1818 Mary's FRANKENSTEIN was published.) This copy is still, remarkably, in the original drab paper-covered boards, albeit without spine label; the leaves are uncut, and the original endpapers are intact. There is minor edge-wear, and one small patch of the spine has chipped away, but this is certainly near-fine condition. Housed in a cloth clamshell case with leather label. (Incidentally, in the legendary eight-day Jerome Kern sale of January 1929, the highest price achieved (today, just over $1 million) was by a copy of QUEEN MAB annotated by Shelley -- thanks to Lee Biondi for this tidbit.)., 1822, 0<

1822, ISBN: a7c3db417d08005e81c68a0ba147e92f

Gebundene Ausgabe

[in original boards] London: Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 1822. Original drab paper-covered boards. First Published Edition, second issue -- which is to say, the sheets of William… Mehr…

[in original boards] London: Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 1822. Original drab paper-covered boards. First Published Edition, second issue -- which is to say, the sheets of William Clark's 1821 pirated edition, with the 1822 cancel title leaf of radical publisher Richard Carlile. "Queen Mab, a Philosophical Poem [in Nine Cantos] with [Seventeen] Notes" -- Shelley's first major poetic work -- was first privately-printed in 1813. Since it was a radical and revolutionary vision of a utopian world (from an atheistic viewpoint), Shelley never intended it to go beyond his friends. But in 1821 a stash of the undistributed sheets was discovered by London bookseller William Clark, and the result was an 1821 pirated edition (with the help of the infamous book pirate Thomas Moses, whose monogram also appears here on the final page of text). Shelley tried to suppress this Clark/Moses edition, but was unsuccessful because the courts ruled that "books liable to conviction for blasphemy or sedition are not entitled to legal protection." Clark spent four months in prison, courtesy of the Society for the Prevention of Vice; Clark's sheets ultimately fell into the hands of his former employer Richard Carlile, who issued this edition (with his own title leaf) in 1822 -- Shelley having just drowned off the coast of Italy in July 1822. This copy includes, at the rear, Shelley's dedicatory poem "To Harriet *****, which had appeared in his 1813 copies but which Shelley had ever since tried to suppress -- and for good reason. In 1811, 19-year-old Shelley had eloped with 16-year-old Harriet Westbrook, under her threat that she would otherwise take her own life; in July 1814 -- after the 1813 QUEEN MAB was printed with its dedication -- Shelley fled pregnant Harriet for the Continent with Mary Godwin and, after Harriet did in fact take her own life, married Mary at the end of 1816. (In 1818 Mary's FRANKENSTEIN was published.) This copy is still, remarkably, in the original drab paper-covered boards, albeit without spine label; the leaves are uncut, and the original endpapers are intact. There is minor edge-wear, and one small patch of the spine has chipped away, but this is certainly near-fine condition. Housed in a cloth clamshell case with leather label. (Incidentally, in the legendary eight-day Jerome Kern sale of January 1929, the highest price achieved (today, just over $1 million) was by a copy of QUEEN MAB annotated by Shelley -- thanks to Lee Biondi for this tidbit.).<

1939, ISBN: a7c3db417d08005e81c68a0ba147e92f

New York: Wright & Owen, 1831. Stated second American edition. 12mo (18.5cm). In original cream paper-covered boards, backed in light green muslin, with original printed paper label to s… Mehr…

New York: Wright & Owen, 1831. Stated second American edition. 12mo (18.5cm). In original cream paper-covered boards, backed in light green muslin, with original printed paper label to spine, largely intact; plain endpapers; viii [9] 10-120pp. Ink ownership inscription of H. A. Fletcher to title page. Temoin on final leaf of text. Straight, tight, and clean, with general mild wear to boards, spine faded, one or two minor chips to spine label, with some foxing (heaviest on endleaves): Very Good. Includes an 8-page preface by Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen. The uncommon second American printing of Shelley's revolutionary epic poem, published by the radical utopian duo of Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen. A favorite book among the Owenites, and unofficially adopted in the 1830's as the "Bible of the Chartists," Queen Mab was first issued privately by Shelley in 1813. It remained unnoticed by the public until a London piracy of 1821. That same year another piracy, with a false New York imprint, was issued by the prolific pirater of Shelley William Benbow; this London-printed piracy is often and incorrectly referred to as the first American edition. The true first American edition was "published by Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen in New York in 1831" and "reprinted in the same year with a simplified title page bearing the words 'Second Edition.' Subsequent reprints of this edition with Wright & Owen's preface were made in 1842 and 1852. It is noteworthy that in these latter editions [Wright and Owen] are referred to as the 'First American Publishers.'" (George T. Goodspeed in The Colophon, March 1939). A survey of institutional copies finds 19 locations in North America, but we note no recorded copy of the second edition in auction records for at least 25 years (for comparison, we note a comparatively plentiful 40+ institutional locations for the privately-issued 1813 edition, of which no fewer than five copies have appeared at auction in the last decade). Cf. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 9172., Wright & Owen, 1831, 0<

1831, ISBN: a7c3db417d08005e81c68a0ba147e92f

[SC: 29.33], [PU: Wright & Owen, New York], Stated second American edition. 12mo (18.5cm). In original cream paper-covered boards, backed in light green muslin, with original printed pape… Mehr…

[SC: 29.33], [PU: Wright & Owen, New York], Stated second American edition. 12mo (18.5cm). In original cream paper-covered boards, backed in light green muslin, with original printed paper label to spine, largely intact; plain endpapers; viii [9] 10-120pp. Ink ownership inscription of H. A. Fletcher to title page. Temoin on final leaf of text. Straight, tight, and clean, with general mild wear to boards, spine faded, one or two minor chips to spine label, with some foxing (heaviest on endleaves): Very Good. Includes an 8-page preface by Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen. The uncommon second American printing of Shelley's revolutionary epic poem, published by the radical utopian duo of Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen. A favorite book among the Owenites, and unofficially adopted in the 1830's as the "Bible of the Chartists," Queen Mab was first issued privately by Shelley in 1813. It remained unnoticed by the public until a London piracy of 1821. That same year another piracy, with a false New York imprint, was issued by the prolific pirater of Shelley William Benbow; this London-printed piracy is often and incorrectly referred to as the first American edition. The true first American edition was "published by Frances Wright and Robert Dale Owen in New York in 1831" and "reprinted in the same year with a simplified title page bearing the words 'Second Edition.' Subsequent reprints of this edition with Wright & Owen's preface were made in 1842 and 1852. It is noteworthy that in these latter editions [Wright and Owen] are referred to as the 'First American Publishers.'" (George T. Goodspeed in The Colophon, March 1939). A survey of institutional copies finds 19 locations in North America, but we note no recorded copy of the second edition in auction records for at least 25 years (for comparison, we note a comparatively plentiful 40+ institutional locations for the privately-issued 1813 edition, of which no fewer than five copies have appeared at auction in the last decade). Cf. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 9172.<