Shelley, Percy Bysshe.

8vo, first edition of the author's revolutionary combination of philosophy and poetry, without half-title as issued, with the dedication leaf ("To Harriet*****") , Shelley's imprint on title page and the final leaf intact, dark-olive morocco gilt by the club bindery (1901), finished by Leon Maillard, with green, red, and ivory morocco onlays and pointillé decoraton, red morocco doublures with floral and star designs in gilt, green silk and decorated endpapers (to a leafy and floral design), all edges gilt, preserved in specially made crushed blue morocco pull-off box, neat repairs to small tears on dedication leaf and final leaf



a very handsome and attractively bound copy of the author's explosive early poem, in unmutilated state.



Queen Mab was privately printed and given to just a few of the author's friends. In most cases -- to avoid possible prosecution owing to the content --  Shelley removed the title and imprint from the last leaf. This applied even to the author's own copy (the Shelley-Brooks-Wade-Forman copy, Granniss 16) and the copy he presented to Leigh Hunt (Grannis 17). Out of around 250 copies less than twenty are thought to have survived with the original preliminary leaves. Furthermore Shelley also removed most of the dedication leaves prior to distribution, a reflection of the great crisis of his life, his separation from his wife Harriet, which was causing him immense pain. the present copy is intact with both imprints and the dedication leaf.



"...Every reflecting mind must acknowledge that there is no proof of the existence of a Deity. God is an hypothesis, and, as such, stands in need of proof"

M.C. D. Borden, bookplate; Roderick Terry, bookplate, the sale of his library at Anderson Galleries, New York, 2 May 1934, lot 240; H. Bradley Martin, the sale of his library at Sotheby's New York, 1 May 1990, lot 3183

Ashley 5:57; Forman, Shelley 21; Granniss 15; Hayward 225; Wise Shelley pp.39-40

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Shelley's revolutionary combination of philosophy and poetry, which prefers the impersonal concept of Necessity to the Christian notion of God, was the most widely read of his poems for many years, inspiring the Chartists and others. "Breathing indignation against tyranny in fiercely denunciatory blank verse, and containing eloquent essay-like notes on such subjects as the evils of meat-eating and marriage, Queen Mab shows the youthful radical poet in quintessential form..." (Michael O'Neill, Oxford DNB).