Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$7900.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: FIRST EDITION OF HER SECOND NOVEL. 3 vols., 7-3/16" x 4-7/16", bound in 1/2 tan speckled calf, gilt decorated spines, gilt lettered black morocco spine labels, marbled edges, internally clean and bright, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spines fine, a VERY GOOD set. Shelley's second novel, a study of sexual politics, considered by many to be her finest work. "Her creation of Frankenstein at the age of eighteen is a marvel known to many; but few if any are aware that Valperga, her second novel, excels the first almost as much as Alastor surpasses Queen Mab. It is, indeed, her best novel, having a richness of imaginative style and a creative force in combination with a thoroughness of scholarship that are exhibited in none of her other works. Shelley and Godwin enthusiastically recognized its advance beyond Frankenstein, and rightly expected great things of her in the future." (Frederick L. Jones The Letters of Mary W. Shelley)
Seller: D&D Galleries - ABAA, Somerville, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$9200.00 + shipping
Description: Rare first edition of Shelley's second novel, which has been called "a meditation on political, psychological, and sexual power" and is considered by many to be her finest work. 12mo., bound in 19th century three quarter calf over marbled boards by Bumpus, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, morocco spine labels, raised bands. In very good condition, contemporary name. A very sharp example. ValpergaÂ"was aÂnovel surprisingly long in its gestation " and possibly concurrentÂwith Frankenstein . "Although not published until 1823, its inceptionÂactually dates from six years earlier. 'I first thought of it in ourÂlibrary in Marlow,' Mary Shelley wrote as she was completing it inÂ1821." Â[See: Curran, Stuart. Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley"].ÂThe preface details some literary sources for this historical tale of theÂfourteenth-century despot Castruccio Castracani. In terms ofÂhistorical fiction, it represents a feminine counterpart to the male romanticism of Sir Walter Scott.Â(Ref: Block, p 213; Summers A Gothic Bibliography, p. 541).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.