Autograph Letter Signed to her publisher Edward Moxon by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft - 1838

1838. Single sheet bifolium. 1-1/2 pp. With autograph address envelope "Mr. Moxon Dover Street". 8vo. Old folds. Fine. Integral blank hinged to larger leaf. Single sheet bifolium. 1-1/2 pp. With autograph address envelope "Mr. Moxon Dover Street". 8vo. 'I have several things to mention ...'. Reading in part: "You may remember that a few years ago you wrote to me concerning publishing Mr. Shelley's Poems. I wish now to consult you on the subject. [...] His poems have indeed been published but I could give novelty and interest to my edition. Though no biography, I have several things to mention, but we can talk of them more readily than write. I am dear sir, Yrs ever, Mrs Shelley ..." Mary had resisted Moxon's first attempt, in 1834, to publish the works of her late husband, Percy Shelley. Though she believed she held copyright, transferred from Percy's will, she was forbidden by the poet's father from publishing under threat of Sir Timothy withdrawing his financial support. The subject of a collected edition was again broached in 1838. "In the summer of 1838, Moxon approached her again. By this time, at least five pirated editions of Shelley's works were in circulation. His reputation stood high; there was no longer any good reason for Sir Timothy to sustain his objections. She obtained his consent for Moxon, Tennyson's publisher, to undertake the task of producing an official four-volume collection of the works, with her editorial control and assistance. Moxon was prepared to pay £500 for the privilege, enough for Mary to move out of London again, to a house in Putney. Sir Timothy's insistence that there should still be no biography was, perhaps, a relief to his daughter-in-law; she, for her own reasons, did not want to invite the public into the murkier corners of Shelley's life" (Seymour, p. 465). Moxon published the edition of the Poetical Works with Mary Shelley's notes in four volumes in 1839. See Grannis 88 for 1839 ed