Sumptuously Bound by Bayntun of Bath
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Edited by Mrs. Shelley. London: Edward Moxen, 1839. Four volumes. Octavo, xvi, 380; 347; viii, 314; 361 pp. All half- titles present. Late nineteenth-/early twentieth-century full crushed blue Morocco by Bayntun of Bath, covers ornately gilt-stamped, spines decoratively gilt-stamped in six compartments, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.
First Edition of Mary Shelley’s important collected edition of her husband’s poetical works. Issued after fifteen years of restrictions on editing Shelley’s literary remains, imposed by his father, were lifted. “In 1839, the obstacles to an authentic edition having been removed in some
unexplained manner, Mrs. Shelley published what was then supposed to be a definitive edition in four volumes, enriched with biographical notes and some very beautiful lyrics which had remained in manuscript” (Dictionary. of National Biography, XVIII, 38). Near fine, with only the slightest rubbing to extremities, spines faded evenly (and attractively) to brown, gilt stamping still fairly bright; gilt designs on covers brilliant. Internally clean, except for a small amount of foxing on some of the endpapers. Small areas of light foxing to frontispiece portrait. Overall, a
very attractive set of these monumentally important volumes. From the library of George Putnam, Jr., Harvard’s 27 th treasurer and the chairman of Putnam’s Investments. NCBEL III, 310; Wise, p. 87; Granniss 88
Offered by Blithedale Rare Books & Manuscripts
$1,500.00
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