Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Cenci. A Tragedy, in Five Acts.. C. and J. Collier, 1819.
Price: US$3500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: The Cenci. A Tragedy, in Five Acts. Percy B. Shelley First edition of Shelley's verse drama, based on the tragic story of Beatrice Cenci, a Roman noblewoman executed in 1599 for the murder of her tyrannical and abusive father. Printed in an edition of 250 copies, The Cenci is the only book of Shelley's to have reached a second edition in his lifetime. London: C. and J. Collier, 1819. Finely bound by Zaehnsdorf for A.C. McClure & Co. in olive-green polished calf, smooth spine with two dark-green morocco labels and the date in gilt at foot, decorative leaf spray in gilt running up the spine, sides ruled in gilt and with leaf sprays at corners, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers; pp. xiv, 104. Light shelfwear and rubbing to extremities and spine tips with a few scratches to covers. Top corners bumped and lightly frayed with board exposed. Bookplate removed from front pastedown, a few light smudges to pages, else internally quite clean and fine. A beautiful copy, housed in a cloth slipcase.
Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$4000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "The Cenci. A tragedy, in five acts" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Printed for C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street, London. 1819 first UK edition, one of 250 copies. Book in very good condition; very slightly foxed, new endpapers, handsomely bound in modern crushed and polished morocco, gilt spine, g.e., by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, [Ashley V 69], 8vo.
Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands
Price: US$6000.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo. xiv, 104 pp. Full green crushed morocco, gilt, by Sangorski & Sutcliffe; bound without first blank, fine save for occasional pencil marks to margins First edition, one of 250 copies. Based on real events, the tragic story of Beatrice, "La Cenci," a Roman noblewoman executed in 1599 for the murder of her tyrannical and abusive father. Shelley was inspired to write the play after seeing Guido's portrait from life of the imprisoned Beatrice; he claims in the Preface that he learned the details of the case from a manuscript copied from the archives of the Cenci Palace. With its theme of the corruption and cruelty of the aristocracy, Shelley intended the work to appeal to the masses, and consciously avoided poetic language: "I have avoided with great care in writing this play the introduction of what is commonly called mere poetry, and I imagine there will scarcely be found a detached simile or a single isolated description" (Preface, p. xi). Though the play sold well enough to warrant a second edition (the only one of Shelley's works to do so in his lifetime), its depictions of incest and parricide made it unsuitable to stage. It was first staged privately by the Shelley Society in 1886 on the occasion of Robert Browning's birthday (Browning, Oscar Wilde, and George Bernard Shaw were in attendance) and first publicly staged in 1922 in London. The Cenci was the first major work of Shelley's to earn the praise of his father-in-law, William Godwin, who preferred its defined characters and presence of a plot to the moral abstractions of Queen Mab and The Revolt of Islam.This copy printed on a single stock of laid paper watermarked "J & C cici" with laurel border; other copies are known with mixed paper stock.REFERENCES: Ashley V, p. 69; Granniss 50
Seller: Bull's Head Rare Books, ABAA, ILAB, Lebanon, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$7500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, one of 250 copies, without initial blank. 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo (9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm.). Hoe Copy of Shelley's verse drama. First edition of Shelley's dramatization of this dark tale of parricide, child abuse, and incest - based on actual events - and arguably the most enduring Romantic verse-play. Only 250 copies were printed, according to Shelley himself. According to Granniss, "With the exception of Queen Mab, The Cenci is the only one of Shelley's works which reached a second edition during his lifetime ." On the other hand, the play was never staged until the Shelley Society produced it on the occasion of Robert Browning's birthday, on May 7, 1886. Granniss 50; Ashley V 69; not in Tinker Bound in full green morocco, gilt spine, t.e.g., by Riviere & Sons, professionally rebacked in invisible fashion, spine gilt (very slightly sunned, else fine). Bookplate of Robert Hoe and Blairhame 104 pp. 1 vols. 8vo (9-1/8 x 5-3/4 inches: 232 x 146 mm.) First edition, one of 250 copies, without initial blank.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.