Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Percy Bysshe Shelley. The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts. C & J Ollier, 1821.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: "The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts" by Percy Bysshe Shelley - C & J Ollier, London - 1821 second edition; gutter broken at Preface, dust-soiling to title, original drab wrappers with paper title and price label to upper cover, covers detached, with initial blank, title and dedication leaf attached to upper cover, extremities with a few tiny nicks, C and J Ollier. Rare.
Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands
Shelley Percy Bysshe. The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts. C & J Ollier, London, 1821.
Price: US$545.17 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: xvii, (i), 103pp. This, his only play, based in fact, with at its heart the moral dilemmas of incest & rightful patricide mirroring (in Shelley's mind) that faced by the English population following the Peterloo Massacre & for which his high hopes for commercial success on the London stage were to be disappointed was originally published two years earlier peppered with printer's errors in an Italian edition of only 250 copies. Sorry about that sentence. No half title but with two original blanks at either end of the text. On front pastedown is a school presentation label dated 1916 with the plate of original owner beneath. Boards with a single gilt ruled fillet border with decorative flower & leaf scrolled in blind. Recently re-backed lettered & ruled in gilt. One or two spots of foxing to otherwise fresh & clean text. Original stab-stitching giving in a couple of places but remaining entirely sound.
Seller: The Poetry Bookshop : Hay-on-Wye, Hay-on-Wye, POWYS, United Kingdom
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe.:. The Cenci. A tragedy in five acts.. C. and J. Ollier, 1821., 1821.
Price: US$641.38 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Second Edition. Grey paper boards; early reback with front free end-paper renewed. Rubbed at edges, internally an exceptionally clean, fresh copy. The first English edition, preceded only by the 1819 Italian printing of 250 copies.
Seller: Charles Cox Rare Books , Bude, United Kingdom
Price: US$747.50 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8.25 x 5.25", sumptuously bound in gilt-ruled polished calf; SIGNED BINDING BY RIVIERE & SON; aeg, 103pp, spine sunned, extremities lightly worn, former owner's bookplate on front fly, old brush stain inside rear cover, with small water drop stain on foredge, pp toned at edges; still a nicely presented copy of the Second Edition (after the First Edition published in 1819 in Italy in an edition of 250 copies). In reality, the FIRST UK EDITION.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Cenci. A Tragedy. In Five Acts. London: C and J Ollier 1821, 1821.
Price: US$1603.45 + shipping
Description: Second edition. pp. xvii (but xv), 104. Lacking half title. The original book has been disbound and the pages cut, very neatly and expertly and then carefully pasted at the hinge edge on a leaf of plain white paper so that the leaves of text are interleaved with the plain leaves. This is one way in which prompt books were made, allowing for notes and directions to be written on the plain leaves without disturbing the text. The leaves of text are cut to measure 151x95mm and the plain paper is 235x190mm. Bound in contemporary tan half calf, marbled paper covered boards. Rebacked with spine lettered in gilt. The centre of the upper and lower covers has a circular morocco label stamped in gilt with a coat of arms around which, in a circular band is stamped in gilt in gothic lettering, Johannes Ludovicus Gautier. Apart from some scuffing to the boards and bumping to the corners, the binding is in very good condition. Internally it is in fine condition with a little marking to the blank pages. On the verso of the front free end paper is inscribed in Gautier's hand, "8vo. 1819. Italy Printed. 8vo. 1821. 2 Edition London. Collated. 1823." This unique and somewhat eccentric book contains an interesting story and set of connections. The name on the label on the covers is Johannes Ludovicus Gautier. Almost nothing is known about him but we do know that he bought books from the collection of the actor John Philip Kemble. The collection included numerous prompt books belonging to Kemble, including Shakespeare's King John and Julius Caesar (which are held at the Folger) and William Wycherley's The Plain Dealer (at the Huntington). John Kemble retired from the stage in 1817 and mainly lived abroad until his death in Lausanne in 1823. It seems that most of his books were sold in Switzerland in 1821. Those bought by Gautier are all bound in the same way as this copy although some of them have Kemble's arms and name on the upper cover in the same style as those of Gautier's. It seems that Gautier had all the books he acquired from Kemble bound in this way. Although there is no evidence on the book itself that Kemble owned this prompt book of The Cenci, the connections and associations all point to his having done so. Shelley wrote The Cenci in 1819 intending that the part of Beatrice be played by Elizabeth O'Neill. Shelley had seen her perform at Covent Garden Theatre and, although he was not, as Mary Shelley noted, particularly keen on the theatre, he was so struck by O'Neill that he composed his first play for her. In the event, she retired from the stage in 1819 when she married a wealthy Irish MP. John Kemble was the leading male actor at Covent Garden until his retirement and a powerful figure in the London theatre. He was visiting Dublin in 1814 and, one evening at the theatre, saw Elizabeth perform. He was so impressed that he brought her to London that year where she made her debut as Juliet to huge acclaim. Given the connection between Kemble and O'Neill and Shelley's fascination with Elizabeth, it seems likely that Kemble and Shelley would have met in the years before Shelley wrote The Cenci. After the play was published, in Italy in an edition of 250 copies, Shelley asked a friend to approach the manager of Covent Garden Theatre (Kemble and O'Neill's theatre) to see if it could be staged there. The manager, Thomas Harris declared The Cenci "so objectionable" that it could not be put on. Despite this, a second edition of the work was published in 1821. It is quite possible that John Kemble retained his links with Covent Garden theatre and that he acquired this copy through his connections there. The copy has clearly been prepared for use as a prompt book. The fact that the 1821 edition has been prepared in this way suggests that there were still plans to try and stage The Cenci. Perhaps Kemble harboured thoughts of putting on his own production or perhaps he was given this by a theatre colleague who had made it for his or her own use
Seller: Voewood Rare Books. ABA. ILAB. PBFA, Holt, United Kingdom
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: Second edition, but the first to appear in England; the book was first printed in Livorno, Italy in 1819 in an edition of 250 copies. xvii, 103 pp. Printed by C.H. Reynall. 1 vols. 8vo. One of Shelley's most important works, prompted by learning the lurid story of Beatrice Cenci and Guido's portrait of her. He began the play in May 1819 in Rome and finished it in September; he had stage production in mind from the start, and he asked Thomas Love Peacock to arrange for it to appear at Covent Garden. As a play by an atheist, however, and dealing with incest, it stood no chance with the censor. The Cenci was never performed in Shelley's lifetime. Ashley Library V, p. 69; Wise: A Shelley Library, p.51 Bound in full blue morocco, spine gilt, t.e.g., others uncut, by the Rose Bindery, Boston. Fine copy. Small booklabel xvii, 103 pp. Printed by C.H. Reynall. 1 vols. 8vo Second edition, but the first to appear in England; the book was first printed in Livorno, Italy in 1819 in an edition of 250 copies.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.