SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Queen Mab. London: W. Clark, 1821.

8vo. With 1p. advertisement leaf at end. ORIGINAL BOARDS, original printed label to spine, uncut (some chipping with small losses to spine label, some light wear to extremities); quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance: Charles W. Frederickson (1823-), noted Shelley collector (bookplate with manuscript date of acquisition, May 1858, his sale, Bangs & Co., 24-28 May 1897, Lot 1568, a few pencil notes in his hand).

PIRATED FIRST EDITION, thin paper copy, issued without the dedication to Harriet *****, but this copy with the dedication leaf supplied and laid in (purportedly from a copy of the 1822 Carlile edition). Queen Mab was first privately printed in 1813. This pirated edition of 1821, printed by R. Clark, precedes the first authorized edition, which was composed of the remaining sheets from Clark's edition and issued with a new title-page by Carlile in 1822. When Shelley learned of Clark's unauthorized edition, he protested the piracy; Clark appeared before the Court of King's Bench on 23 June and pleaded not guilty to publishing an "indecent, immoral and scandalous poem." According to Geroge Goodspeed, "His trial did not take place until late in the following year, but the book appears to have been suppressed, nominally at least, very soon after its publication" (See The Colophon, New Graphic Series, No. 1, p.25-32, 1939). Ashley V., p.150. THE C.W. FREDERICKSON COPY.

Property from Historic Sengen House, Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York

SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Queen Mab. London: W. Clark, 1821.