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grey, brown, black & gilt cloth hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. tiny spot (<1cm) on rear where dustwrapper was stuck to cover. edges clean. text free of markings. price clipped dustwrapper in vg cond. 1cm tear on front, minor soiling,wrinkling. SIGNED with an inscription (to the previous owner) by Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr., who also wrote the Foreword, on the occasion of a meeting of the Keats Shelley Association at the Pforzheimer Library (Jan 25/79). nice clean copy. no library markings or store stamps, no stickers or bookplates, no underlining, no remainder markings etc ~. first edition so stated. first printing (NAP). deckled foredge. frontis. portrait of Shelley. xix+378p. + colophon. b&w map of England. 8 b&w plates. index of first lines. english literature. english romantic poetry. biography. autobiography. memoirs. ~ IN JULY 1962, The Carl H. Pforzheimer Library purchased in London a manuscript notebook that had for some 150 years been in the possession of the descendants of its author, Percy Bysshe Shelley. So far as is known, The Esdaile Notebook contains the only remaining body of unpublished poetry by Shelley, and its appearance today constitutes an event of major importance in the history of English letters. Shelley compiled the manuscript with publication in mind, but of his 57 poems included in the collection, only 14 have previously been printed. The collection now appears in its entirety as Shelley wrote and arranged it. The poems belong to Shelley's early period, that which preceded such works as Prometheus Unbound and Adonais. Although the verses lack the depth and aesthetic brilliance of these more mature works, they often possess a directness of style and a vigor that are wanting in some of the later poems. The poems in The Esdaile Notebook fall into two main categories: personal and political. The personal ones throw considerable new light on Shelley's thoughts and emotions during those important formative years that followed his expulsion from Oxford and his elopement with Harriet Westbrook. The political ones, in which he assails the then~existing "Establishment," embody Shelley's vision of a new social order free from war and class prejudice. The editor of this volume, Kenneth Neill Cameron, has supplied an introduction in which he describes the origin of the Notebook and the historical and biographical background against which it was written. He has also provided commentaries to the poems. This book is in effect a notable First Edition that will be treasured by all readers of poetry. Seller Inventory # 1231702
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