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SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). The Cenci. A Tragedy. Italy: for C. and J. Ollier, London, 1819.
8° (227 x 149mm). With the initial blank. (Final quire loose.) Uncut in contemporary Italian brown marbled wrappers (30mm. tear in upper cover, both covers slightly worn at edges, section of spine lacking at foot), red morocco solander case by Riviere and Son. Provenance: one correction in the author's hand (Act I, scene I, p. 4, l.9) -- Herbert S. Leon (armorial bookplate) -- purchased from W.H. Robinson, London, 15 December 1937, £350. Exhibited: Grolier Club (1950s exhibition label loosely inserted).
FIRST EDITION, WITH CORRECTION BY SHELLEY, BOUND IN CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN WRAPPERS. Having read the story of the Cenci in Livorno in 1818, Shelley began writing his verse drama in Rome. It was completed at Livorno in August 1819, and printed in an edition of 250 copies during October. The unbound sheets were shipped to Peacock in London but not published by Charles Ollier until the spring of 1820; it then appeared in blue boards. However, the Italian wrappers on this copy suggest that it never left Italy, and may well have been a gift of the poet's, especially in view of his manuscript correction to p. 4. In this copy, all the quires are on laid paper by Cini with watermark of a trailing plant and star countermark. The play went into a second edition in 1821, making it the only one of Shelley's works to reach a second edition in his lifetime, apart from the unauthorised reprint of Queen Mab. But Peacock's efforts to procure its presentation at Covent Garden, with Miss O'Neill as Beatrice, were unsuccessful, and it was not produced till 7 May 1886, when Browning was the guest of honour. Granniss 50; Wise A Shelley Library p. 51.
8° (227 x 149mm). With the initial blank. (Final quire loose.) Uncut in contemporary Italian brown marbled wrappers (30mm. tear in upper cover, both covers slightly worn at edges, section of spine lacking at foot), red morocco solander case by Riviere and Son. Provenance: one correction in the author's hand (Act I, scene I, p. 4, l.9) -- Herbert S. Leon (armorial bookplate) -- purchased from W.H. Robinson, London, 15 December 1937, £350. Exhibited: Grolier Club (1950s exhibition label loosely inserted).
FIRST EDITION, WITH CORRECTION BY SHELLEY, BOUND IN CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN WRAPPERS. Having read the story of the Cenci in Livorno in 1818, Shelley began writing his verse drama in Rome. It was completed at Livorno in August 1819, and printed in an edition of 250 copies during October. The unbound sheets were shipped to Peacock in London but not published by Charles Ollier until the spring of 1820; it then appeared in blue boards. However, the Italian wrappers on this copy suggest that it never left Italy, and may well have been a gift of the poet's, especially in view of his manuscript correction to p. 4. In this copy, all the quires are on laid paper by Cini with watermark of a trailing plant and star countermark. The play went into a second edition in 1821, making it the only one of Shelley's works to reach a second edition in his lifetime, apart from the unauthorised reprint of Queen Mab. But Peacock's efforts to procure its presentation at Covent Garden, with Miss O'Neill as Beatrice, were unsuccessful, and it was not produced till 7 May 1886, when Browning was the guest of honour. Granniss 50; Wise A Shelley Library p. 51.
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