Miscellaneous Poems.
London: William Benbow, 1826 Stock Code: 119978
First edition of this very scarce early collected edition of Shelley's poetry, appealingly bound with an occult emblem to front board (flaming skull-and-cross-bones, snakes holding a heart, crowned with a crown and star, known by another copy to be that of collector Gilbert C. Elliot) and another bookplate (skull with a worm, initialled DMF). This Benbow piracy selects Shelley's poetry from various previously published editions, collecting mainly from the Posthumous Poems edition of 1824, but with some notable examples drawn from earlier publications. Excepting perhaps the Posthumous Poems, this piracy constitutes the first selected edition of Shelley, and contains such poems as "Hymn to Intellectual Beauty", "Lines on the Death of Napoleon", "Love's Philosophy", "Mont Blanc", "Mutability", "Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples", "To the Moon", and "To a Skylark". This edition is fairly well represented institutionally but is rare in the trade - only one copy is recorded at auction in this millennium, and indeed the last copy in boards was in 1984.
Description
Duodecimo (146 x 94 mm). Early-20th-century red half morocco by Truslove & Hanson of Oxford Street, London, spine gilt in compartments with titles direct, pink cloth sides with gilt rules, occult arms gilt to front board, top edge gilt, others barely trimmed, marbled endpapers.
Condition
A few corners nicked, some minor marks to the morocco, some minor spots and toning to margins within, but a very good copy indeed.
DELIVERY
With the exception of framed items*, Peter Harrington offers free delivery on all UK orders of rare books, maps and prints placed through this website. Delivery to USA and the rest of the world is similarly free for orders over £200.
ABOUT US
Established in 1969, Peter Harrington is one of the leading rare book firms in the world. It is a proud member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association – along with ILAB, the PBFA and Lapada – and from shops in Mayfair and Chelsea, London, sells rare books, prints and ephemera to customers across the world.
Email: mail@peterharrington.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7591 0220
