Shelley, Percy Bysshe.

8vo, first edition, one of 100 copies, state without the colon after title at the head of the title page, dark blue morocco gilt by P. Hembra, spine in six compartments, edges gilt

H. Bradley Martin, book-label, bill of sale from Ximenes loosely inserted, dated 11 May 1981, the sale of his library at Sotheby's New York, 30 April and 1 May 1990, lot 3195

Wise, Ashley Library V, p.77; Granniss 62

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

rare.

This work was inspired  by Shelley's meeting, at the end of October 1820 when the author had moved back to Pisa, the beautiful, young Teresa Viviani (1801–1836), who was being kept in a convent awaiting the outcome of marriage arrangements in which she played little part. But it also reflects the difficulties he was facing in his second marriage to Mary Godwin, and looks back to the desolation the poet faced after the suicide of his first wife Harriet Westbrook.

"A masterpiece that can still disconcert as its couplets waver unstably and yet valuably between the spiritual and the sexual, the allegorical and the literal, the erotic and the political, devotion to one figure and advocacy of free love" (Micahel O'Neill, Oxford DNB)