Beschreibung:

SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Queen Mab; A Philosophical Poem . London: P.B. Shelley, 1813. 8 o (196 x 118 mm). Original drab boards, without label as issued, uncut (joints cracked, otherwise very fine). Provenance : word "Fairy" written in in a contemporary hand in upper margin of D2 -- pencilled note on pastedown "From the Private Collection of A.S.W. Rosenbach" -- Louis H. Silver (morocco booklabel) purchased by John F. Fleming at the sale of Newberry Library duplicates from the Silver accession, Sotheby's, London, 9 November 1965, lot 301. Exhibited : Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 53. FIRST EDITION OF SHELLEY'S QUEEN MAB , VERY FINE IN ORIGINAL AND UNMUTILATED CONDITION. Queen Mab is a "freethinking and socialistic gospel... couched in a rhetoric so exalted as to pass easily for poetry" (DNB). Shelley's explosive conjuction of poetry and philosophy questions the nature of convention, custom and the hypocrisy of institutional thinking. In the prose Notes following the verse, Shelley examines taboos such as sexual intercourse, the mentality of the mob and the particularly devisive subject of God: "It is probable that the word God was originally only an expression denoting the unknown cause of the known events which men perceived in the universe... Every reflecting mind must acknowledge that there is no proof of the existence of a Deity. God is an hypothesis, and, as such, stands in need of proof." While Thomas Hookham was employed by Shelley to print Queen Mab (although Hookham actually sub-contracted the job to another printer), he would have doubtlessly refused the job had not Shelley agreed to use his own name and address on the title-page and imprint on the final leaf. Both men knew well that circulating printed matter without the printer's name was subject to stern punishment in the courts; Shelley had been forced into self exile the previous year for a printed remonstration of Lord Ellenborough. Shelley willingly issued Queen Mab with his name as the printer, but keenly "mutilated" most of the copies he distributed by cutting out the imprint on the title and final leaf. At the time of publication, Shelley was also "on the eve of the great crisis of his life, his separation from [his wife] Harriet" (DNB). Shelley had with prescience written in the Notes to Queen Mab , "A husband and wife ought to continue so long united as they love each other." The dissolution of his marriage caused Shelley much pain, and so in addition to excising the imprint, Shelley removed most of the dedication leaves prior to distribution. Although it is believed that 250 copies were printed for private distribution, Shelley never came close to disposing of the whole edition and shortly after Shelley's death, the publisher Richard Carlile advertised the remainding 180 copies. The book remained largely unknown until 1821, when a piratical edition by William Clark appeared. The hostile reviews by critics and resulting court cases and prosecutions brought Shelley and his book great notoriety and fame. Clark's actions brought him a prison sentence. Ashley V, p.57; Granniss/Grolier Shelley 15; Hayward 225; Tinker 1886; Wise Shelley , pp.39-40. A SUPERB COPY.