Showing the Various Printed Sources of the Contents of This Edition by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Editor's note

Entry 1 discusses Shelley’s first publication, *Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire* (1810), a pamphlet he wrote with his sister Elizabeth using pen names. Sub-entry (2) notes Richard Garnett's 1898 scholarly reprint, which revealed the true authors for the first time in print. The epigraph from *The Lay of the Last Minstrel* — 'Call it not vain' — was selected by a teenage Shelley himself.

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Entry 2 is the 1810 Oxford pamphlet *Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson*, a satirical hoax that Shelley published alongside his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg. Margaret Nicholson was an actual woman who attempted to stab King George III; Shelley adopted her name to disguise his radical political poetry. The editor named 'John Fitz-Victor' is yet another pseudonym.

Editor's note

Entry 3 documents *St. Irvyne* (1811), a Gothic novel that Shelley released anonymously under the name 'A Gentleman of the University of Oxford.' While it's prose fiction rather than poetry, this edition being cataloged features some verse passages. The publisher, J. J. Stockdale, also published the *Victor and Cazire* pamphlet, highlighting Shelley's early dependence on the same London publishing trade.

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Entry 4 is the shortest item in the catalogue: a single-sheet broadside ballad from 1812. Broadsides were inexpensive, throwaway prints—sold on street corners and pasted on walls. Shelley employed this format for straightforward political activism. The poem presents a darkly comedic image of the Devil strolling through England, nodding in approval at its cruelty and corruption.

Editor's note

Entry 5 discusses *Queen Mab* (1813), Shelley's first significant long poem, which he chose to print privately and share with radical friends instead of selling it commercially. The title page features several epigraphs: a line from Voltaire criticizing the Church, a passage from Lucretius on venturing into uncharted intellectual territory, and Archimedes' well-known claim about moving the world — all reflecting Shelley's desire to challenge established religion and political norms.

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Entry 6 records *Alastor* (1816), Shelley's first collection of mature poetry that was commercially published. The title poem tells the story of a young poet chasing an ideal vision of beauty, only to have it lead to his destruction — a theme that Shelley explored repeatedly throughout his career. The publishers, Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, were reputable booksellers in London, representing a significant advancement from Shelley's previous self-publishing efforts.

Editor's note

Entry 7 is the most complex in the catalogue, featuring five sub-entries that trace the complicated publication history of what started as *Laon and Cythna* (1818). The publishers pressured Shelley to revise the poem by removing the incest between the two main characters and softening the anti-religious content, leading to its reissue as *The Revolt of Islam*. Sub-entries (3), (4), and (5) detail additional reprints from 1817 and 1829, including editions where the original *Laon and Cythna* text remained beneath the new title page.

Editor's note

Entry 8 records *Rosalind and Helen* (1819), which includes some of Shelley's best-known shorter lyrics. The subtitle 'modern eclogue' indicates a pastoral dialogue format that has been refreshed to address current social issues — the title poem explores themes of friendship, grief, and social exclusion.

Editor's note

Entry 9 covers *The Cenci* (1819, second edition 1821), a verse tragedy by Shelley inspired by the real-life story of Beatrice Cenci, a noblewoman from Renaissance Italy who was executed for murdering her abusive father. This work was the most traditionally theatrical piece Shelley ever created, and he had hopes that it would be performed on stage in London — unfortunately, that never happened during his lifetime.

Editor's note

Entry 10 records *Prometheus Unbound* (1820), which many view as Shelley's greatest work. The Latin epigraph — 'Do you hear this, Amphiaraus, hidden beneath the earth?' — suggests the poem's theme of buried, suppressed power reemerging. The collection also includes 'Ode to the West Wind,' 'To a Skylark,' and other poems that became foundational to English Romanticism.

Editor's note

Entry 11 records *Swellfoot the Tyrant* (1820), a satirical burlesque that Shelley penned in reaction to Queen Caroline's public trial, during which George IV sought to divorce her. The claim of 'translation from the Original Doric' is purely sarcastic. The pamphlet was nearly banned right after it hit the shelves — the Society for the Prevention of Vice pressured the publisher, leading to the destruction of nearly the entire print run.

Editor's note

Entry 12 covers *Epipsychidion* (1821), a deeply personal poem written for Teresa ('Emilia') Viviani, a young Italian woman Shelley encountered while she was waiting in a convent for an arranged marriage. The Italian epigraph — her own words — portrays a loving soul striving to transcend creation and enter an infinite world of its own design. Shelley published the poem anonymously and later sought to suppress it, referring to it as an 'idealized history of my life and feelings.'

Editor's note

Entry 13 covers *Adonais* (1821), which is Shelley's pastoral elegy for John Keats, who passed away in Rome that February. Shelley had the poem printed in Pisa by the esteemed Didot press; the Cambridge reprint in sub-entry (2) was published seven years later. The Greek epigraph, taken from Plato, translates roughly to: 'You were the morning star among the living; now in death you shine as the evening star among the dead.'

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Entry 14 records *Hellas* (1822), a lyrical drama that draws inspiration from the Greek War of Independence, a conflict Shelley closely followed from Italy. The catalogue refers to it as 'the last work published during Shelley's lifetime' — he tragically drowned in July 1822, only months after its release. The Greek epigraph from Sophocles' *Oedipus at Colonus* translates to 'I am a prophet of noble contests.'

Editor's note

Entry 15 notes the first posthumous collection published in 1824, which was edited by Mary Shelley. The Italian epigraph, taken from Petrarch, honors a life of modest nobility paired with great intellect—a tribute Mary selected for her late husband. This volume presented many of Shelley's most significant unpublished works to the public for the first time.

Editor's note

Entry 16 records *The Masque of Anarchy* (1832), which was written in 1819 as a reaction to the Peterloo Massacre but was held back by Leigh Hunt for more than ten years due to fears of prosecution. When it was eventually published, it included Hunt's preface detailing the reasons for the delay. The epigraph — 'Hope is Strong; Justice and Truth their winged child have found' — comes from Shelley's own *Revolt of Islam*.

Editor's note

Entry 17 records *The Shelley Papers* (1833), a memoir by Thomas Medwin — Shelley's cousin and a close friend — featuring poems and prose that hadn’t been collected before. The note stating 'the Poems occupy pages 109–126' reflects a bibliographer's attention to detail, assisting scholars in finding the poetry within a volume primarily focused on biography.

Editor's note

Entry 18 details Mary Shelley's four-volume collected edition, published by Edward Moxon — the key compilation of her work in the nineteenth century. The Italian epigraph from Petrarch translates to: 'I do not find him, but I see his holy footprints, all turned toward the high road, far from the Avernian and Stygian lakes' — portraying Mary as a figure who sees Shelley as a spirit who has already transcended the underworld.