Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Valperga, First Edition of Her Second Novel, 1823

About the Item

Author: Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Title: Valperga: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca. Publisher: London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1823. 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. Condition: Internally clean and bright, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spines fine, a VERY GOOD set. Additional information: 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)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 7.19 in (18.27 cm)Width: 4.44 in (11.28 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1823
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    Hillsborough, NJ
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU6214227184422
More From This SellerView All
  • Mary SHELLEY. Frankenstein. 1831 - THIRD AND FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION !
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    AUTHOR: SHELLEY, Mary. TITLE: Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, Revised, Corrected, and Illustrated with a New Introduction by the Author - BOUND WITH - Edgar Huntly: Or, The Sleep Walker...
    Category

    Antique 1830s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, First Edition Second Issue, 1820
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    Author: SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. Title: Prometheus Unbound A Lyrical Drama In Four Acts With Other Poems. Publisher: London: C and J Ollier, 1820. Description: First edition ...
    Category

    Antique 1820s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

  • Mary Brunton, Discipline, First Edition, 1814, 3 Volumes
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    AUTHOR: BRUNTON, Mary. TITLE: Discipline: A Novel. By The Author Of "Self Control". PUBLISHER: Edinburgh: By George Ramsay & Co., for many, 1814. DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION...
    Category

    Antique 1810s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

  • Percy Bysshe Shelley, Hellas, a Lyrical Drama, First Edition 1822 the Huth Copy
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    Author: SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. Title: Hellas. A Lyrical Drama. Publisher: London: Charles and James Ollier, 1822. Description: first edition the Huth copy. 1 vol., a large ...
    Category

    Antique 1820s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

  • Charles DICKENS. A Christmas Carol - FIRST EDITION SECOND ISSUE - 1843
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    AUTHOR: DICKENS, Charles. TITLE: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being A Ghost Story of Christmas. PUBLISHER: London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. DESCRIPTION:...
    Category

    Antique 1840s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

  • CAMDEN - The Historie of the Life & Death of Mary Stuart - SECOND EDITION - 1636
    Located in Hillsborough, NJ
    AUTHOR: CAMDEN, William. TITLE: The Historie of the Life and Death of Mary Stuart Queene of Scotland. PUBLISHER: London: by John Haviland, and are to be sold by William Sheares, 1...
    Category

    Antique 1630s British Books

    Materials

    Leather

You May Also Like
  • Gore Vidal's First Novel "WILLIWAW", Signed First Edition
    Located in Middletown, NY
    Gore Vidal, WILLIWAW New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1946. First edition, first printing Measures: 8vo, 8 x 5 1/2 in. (223 x142 mm); pp. 222 . Original black cloth, titles on spine...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Books

    Materials

    Paper

  • Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley, Photoplay Grosset & Dunlap Edition, 1931
    Located in Colorado Springs, CO
    Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1931]. 8vo. Rebound in red 1/.4 leather and black cloth boards, with raised bands, gilt stamps, and gilt titles to spine. New matching archival slipcase. Presented is a photoplay edition of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece of horror, Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. This printing was published by Grosset & Dunlap, in New York, in 1931. One of the most collectible Grosset & Dunlap photoplay editions, this book was published to accompany the 1931 Universal Pictures James Whale horror film starring Boris Karlof, Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boless, and Dwight Frye. It is illustrated throughout with scenes from that production. The book has been beautifully rebound in striking ¼ red leather and black cloth boards, with raised bands and gilt stamps and tiles to the spine, and a matching black archival slipcase. Mary Shelley was just nineteen when she wrote her classic novel. The circumstances of its composition are by now well known. In 1816, Mary was in Switzerland with Percy Shelley, Byron, and Byron’s physician John Polidori when the evening’s discussion turned to one of Shelley’s favorite topics, the supernatural. Byron proposed that all members of the party write a romance or tale on the subject. The resulting efforts were Polidori’s The Vampyre, Byron’s unfinished narrative about a vampire, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The first edition of Frankenstein was published anonymously in London, 1818, and is exceedingly rare. An 1831 edition was published in London, for which Shelley wrote an introduction describing the circumstances surrounding the creation of the work. The first American edition was published in 1833. Frankenstein has been named “the most famous English horror novel… a defining model of the Gothic mode of fiction, and… the first genuine science fiction novel, the first significant rendering of the relations between mankind and science through an image of mankind’s dual nature appropriate to an age of science” (Clute and Nicholls, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 1099). Alexander Grosset and George T...
    Category

    Vintage 1930s American Books

    Materials

    Leather, Paper

  • Pair Of First Edition Novels by Minette Walters, Signed, English, Hard Bound
    Located in Hele, Devon, GB
    This is a pair of First Edition novels by Minette Walters. An English language, author signed hard-bound crime fiction, dating to the early 1990s. An award-winning author, Minette Walters (September 1949) has written over 15 titles since her first novel The Ice House...
    Category

    Late 20th Century British Books

    Materials

    Paper

  • Set Of 6 First Edition Novels by Minette Walters, Signed, English, Hard Bound
    Located in Hele, Devon, GB
    This is a set of 6 First Edition novels by Minette Walters. An English language, author signed hard-bound collection of crime writing, dating to the turn of the 21st century. An award-winning author, Minette Walters (September 1949) has written over 15 titles since her first novel The Ice House...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary British Books

    Materials

    Paper

  • Lost Ecstasy by Mary Roberts Rinehart, First Edition
    Located in valatie, NY
    Lost Ecstasy by Mary Roberts Rinehart. George H. Doran Company, New York, 1927. 1st Ed hardcover. "Kay Dowling was used to luxury, expensive plea...
    Category

    Early 20th Century North American Books

    Materials

    Paper

  • Alone, Signed by Richard E. Byrd, First Edition, Second Impression, 1938
    Located in Colorado Springs, CO
    Byrd, Richard E, Alone. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1938. First edition, stated second impression. Signed by Byrd on free end paper. Octavo. Presented in quarter blue Moroccan leather and cloth binding, with gilt titles and stamps to the spine, and a new archival slipcase. Presented is the first edition, stated second impression of Richard E. Byrd's book Alone. It was published in New York by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1938. The book is signed by the author on the first free endpage in black ink. Rear admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888-1957) was an American naval officer and recipient of the United States Medal of Honor. Byrd was also known as a pioneering American aviator, polar explorer...
    Category

    Vintage 1930s American Books

    Materials

    Leather, Paper

Recently Viewed

View All