SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Posthumous Poems. London: Printed for John and Henry L. Hunt, 1824. Large 8vo (224 x 140mm). Preface by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (single spot on title, a few spots to text, without the errata and advertisements [as usual]). FINELY BOUND in late 19th-century full red crushed morocco by Maclehose, Glasgow, spine lettered in gilt with 5 raised bands, dentelles, top edges gilt, others uncut. Provenance: The Property of a Lady, by descent from her great grandfather. FIRST EDITION of this collection which includes 65 poems published for the first time. Only about 500 copies were printed, with as few as 300 being sold. Ashley Library V, p.88; Buxton Forman 108; Granniss Shelley 78; Lowndes IV, 2375; Sunstein Mary Shelley 257: "Posthumous Poems accomplished what Mary Shelley intended: before it, Shelley's immorality, destructiveness, and incomprehensibility were legendary, and he was largely unread; upon its publication there was a surge of interest as he seemed at once more accessible and admirable ... The age would seize upon Shelley"; Tinker 1904; Wise A Shelley Library 70. RARE. With The Shelley Papers. Memoir of Percy Bysshe Shelley by T. Medwin, Esq. and Original Poems and Papers by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Now First Collected (London, Whittaker, Treacher, and Co., 1833, small 8vo, FINELY BOUND in uniform late 19th-century full red crushed morocco gilt by Maclehose, Glasgow). FIRST EDITION). (2)
