“DRUNK AS WITH INTOXICATION OF THE WINE OF DESOLATION”: FIRST EDITION OF SHELLEY’S MASQUE OF ANARCHY IN ORIGINAL CLOTH
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. Now First Published, With a Preface By Leigh Hunt. London: Edward Moxon, 1832. Small octavo, original cloth.
First edition, with half title and advertisement leaf at the end.
“The poem was written in 1819 on the occasion of the infamous ‘Peterloo’ affair, and was sent to Leigh Hunt, for publication in The Examiner, before November 1819. Hunt did not publish it then, but saved it till 1832, and then issued it with a preface of considerable interest” (Forman, 112-113). Hunt refused to publish it during Shelley’s lifetime for fear of political prosecution. Without rear free endpaper. CBEL III: 214. Wise, 71. Bookplate.
Light fading to cloth, spine toned, with traces of original paper spine label; text fine.