The Poetical Works.: Edited by Mrs. Shelley.

London: Edward Moxon,, 1839. Giving the productions of a sublime genius to the world First collected edition, attractively bound by Tout. Mary Shelley's collected edition of her husband's poetical works established him finally and irreversibly amongst the great poets of the English language. Pirate editions of Shelley's works had persuaded his father, Sir Timothy, that all hope of obscurity had passed, and Mary was allowed to prepare a proper edition provided she included only a minimal amount of biographical information. "Mary Shelley brought Shelley into the mainstream of the national culture. He was no longer the author of a notorious banned poem [Queen Mab] only obtainable from shops specializing in blasphemy, sedition and advice on birth control. He was the prophet of Prometheus Unbound, one of the most ambitious attempts ever made to uplift life by literature, and of other works such as the "Ode to the West Wind"... The notes that Mary added are masterpieces of editing, adding so immeasurably to the reader's understanding that nobody would now consider printing Shelley's poems without them" (St Clair, p. 492). From 1868 through 1879, bookbinder Samuel Tout (1841-1902) operated in Nassau Street in Soho, London. He then worked in a bindery in Whitechapel with William Coward, continuing on his own after 1880. Tout was also a member of the early staff of Karslake's Hampstead Bindery, which opened in Charing Cross in 1898. Four volumes, octavo (165 x 107 mm). Late 19th-century pebble-grain blue half morocco by Tout for the Boston booksellers Estes and Lauriat, spines with gilt-ruled raised bands, lettering and decoration in gilt on compartments, marbled sides ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Engraved portrait frontispiece in vol. I. All volumes bound without half-titles, vol. I without final leaf with publisher's imprint, vols II and IV without advertisements. Spines slightly toned, a touch of wear to lower corners, lower outer corner of one leaf sometime neatly repaired, a few spots of foxing to endpapers in each volume, extending to a couple of initial leaves in vol. I, contents otherwise clean. A very good set. Dunbar, Shelley Studies 345; Granniss 88; Wise, p. 87. St Clair, The Godwins and the Shelleys: The Biography of a Family, 1989.