Robert BROWNING éditeur, [Lettres de Percy Bysshe SHELLEY] en réalité de George Gordon BYRON
LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY ROBERT BROWNING.
London, Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1852. [London : Bradbury and Evans, printers, Whitefriars].
1 volume in-12 ( ) de VI-(2)-165-(2) pages et 8 pages de catalogue de l'éditeur.
Reliure plein maroquin marron, dos à nerfs richement orné aux petits fers dorés, triple-filet doré en encadrement des plats, double-filet doré sur les coupes, tête dorée, encadrement intérieur de roulettes et filets dorés, doublures et gardes de papier glacé uni lie de vin, non rogné (reliure exécutée vers 1890 par l'atelier londonien de Riviere & Son). Reliure très fraîche, intérieur en parfait état, relié sur brochure. Impression sur papier vélin teinté. Quelques rousseurs sur les gardes.
PREMIÈRE EDITION. FIRST PRINTING.
Un article du New York Times en date du 26 février 1911 intitulé "Shelley's forged letters. Rare copy for sale in London, the work of G. G. Byron", donne toute l'histoire rocambolesque de cette édition par le menu détail :
"One of the most ingenious literary forgeries of modern times is recalled by a rare work which a London bookdealer now is offering for sale for $375. It is an octavo volume published in 1852 by Moxon and entitled "Letters of P. B. Shelley, with an introductory essay by Robert Browning". Browning really wrote the introduction, but not one of the twenty-five letters in it is by Shelley. These letters purported to have been sent by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the eminent English poet, to various of his friends. They were clever imitations of his hand-writing, and bore the postmarks of cities in which it was known that Shelley had resided. The book made a sensation. Browning's preface is one of his most admired pieces of prose writing. Moxon sent copies of the work to a number of distinguished literary men, among others Lord Alfred Tennyson. Francis Turner Palgrove, son of Sir Francis Palgrove, the historian, was at the time a guest of Lord Tennyson. He picked up the book one day and opened it at a letter from Shelley to Godwin, his father-in-law, which seemed strangely familiar to him. He read on and found that the letter was a plagiarism of an article which his father had contributed to the Quarterly Review in 1840. Moxon, when informed of this discovery, said that he had bought the letters at a public sale, and that they seemed authentic. The handwriting appaered genuine, the seal was Shelley's and the addresses bore the stamp of the Post Offices of the italian towns where Shelley had lived. It happened that, at the same sale, the poet's son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, had bought other letters of his father, which were of a private and personal character. These letters were found to be at utter variance with well-known facts. Moxon at once suppressed the book, the auctionneer said that the letters had come to him from a bookseller named W. White. White, in turn, said that he had bought them from an unknown woman who claimed to have received them from Fletcher, Lord Byron's servant. Further search revealed that behind this unknown woman was the forger, George Gordon Byron, alias De Gibler. This adventurer bore a striking resemblance to Lord Byron, had assumed his name, and had passed himself off as Byron's natural son. He almost succeeded in palming off on a publisher some unedited remains of Lord Byron. As soon as the facts about the letters became known he disappeared. (...)"
Percy Shelley (1792-1822) fut considéré par ses contemporains comme un des poètes anglais les plus importants, mais aussi comme la figure la plus influente et la plus emblématique du mouvement romantique. Il avait épousé en secondes noces Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1816),, connue dans la littérature sous le nom de Mary Shelley, l'auteur de l'impérissable Frankenstein ou le Prométhée moderne (Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus) paru en 1818, qu'il avait préfacé. Le couple perd ses trois premiers enfants en bas âge. Un quatrième enfant, Percy Florence Shelley leur survivra. L'été 1822 Shelley et son ami Williams construisent un petit voilier, l'Ariel, pour traverser le golfe de Livourne. Ils s'embarquent le 8 juillet accompagnés d'un jeune mousse, Charles Vivian. Le temps est lourd, la mer agitée. Après deux heures de navigation l'Ariel est submergé par la tempête. Au bout de dix jours, les trois corps seront rejetés sur la grève. Dans la veste de Shelley on retrouvera un petit volume d'Eschyle et un recueil de John Keats. Les corps seront incinérés à la manière antique sur la plage de Viareggio en présence de Byron et de Leigh Hunt, l'ami de Keats. Les cendres du poète seront placées dans le cimetière protestant de Rome.
Provenance : Exemplaire de la bibliothèque du célèbre bibliophile américain Robert Hoe (mort en 1909), avec son ex libris doré sur cuir bleu nuit. Cet exemplaire se retrouve au catalogue de la troisième vente de sa bibliothèque en 1905 (p.65). "Printed from forgeries, and suppressed." Robert Hoe ne possédait pas moins d'une trentaine d'éditions originales de Percy Shelley ou sur Percy Shelley, presque toutes reliées en maroquin par Riviere & Son. Le volume est passé ensuite dans la bibliothèque John Whipple Frothingham (ex libris héraldique gravé).
EXEMPLAIRE DE LA PRESTIGIEUSE BIBLIOTHÈQUE ROBERT HOE.
SUPERBE EXEMPLAIRE D'UN LIVRE RARE. UNE DES PLUS INGÉNIEUSES SUPERCHERIES LITTÉRAIRES DE LA LITTÉRATURE ANGLAISE MODERNE.
VENDU
LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY ROBERT BROWNING.
London, Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1852. [London : Bradbury and Evans, printers, Whitefriars].
1 volume in-12 ( ) de VI-(2)-165-(2) pages et 8 pages de catalogue de l'éditeur.
Reliure plein maroquin marron, dos à nerfs richement orné aux petits fers dorés, triple-filet doré en encadrement des plats, double-filet doré sur les coupes, tête dorée, encadrement intérieur de roulettes et filets dorés, doublures et gardes de papier glacé uni lie de vin, non rogné (reliure exécutée vers 1890 par l'atelier londonien de Riviere & Son). Reliure très fraîche, intérieur en parfait état, relié sur brochure. Impression sur papier vélin teinté. Quelques rousseurs sur les gardes.
PREMIÈRE EDITION. FIRST PRINTING.
Un article du New York Times en date du 26 février 1911 intitulé "Shelley's forged letters. Rare copy for sale in London, the work of G. G. Byron", donne toute l'histoire rocambolesque de cette édition par le menu détail :
"One of the most ingenious literary forgeries of modern times is recalled by a rare work which a London bookdealer now is offering for sale for $375. It is an octavo volume published in 1852 by Moxon and entitled "Letters of P. B. Shelley, with an introductory essay by Robert Browning". Browning really wrote the introduction, but not one of the twenty-five letters in it is by Shelley. These letters purported to have been sent by Percy Bysshe Shelley, the eminent English poet, to various of his friends. They were clever imitations of his hand-writing, and bore the postmarks of cities in which it was known that Shelley had resided. The book made a sensation. Browning's preface is one of his most admired pieces of prose writing. Moxon sent copies of the work to a number of distinguished literary men, among others Lord Alfred Tennyson. Francis Turner Palgrove, son of Sir Francis Palgrove, the historian, was at the time a guest of Lord Tennyson. He picked up the book one day and opened it at a letter from Shelley to Godwin, his father-in-law, which seemed strangely familiar to him. He read on and found that the letter was a plagiarism of an article which his father had contributed to the Quarterly Review in 1840. Moxon, when informed of this discovery, said that he had bought the letters at a public sale, and that they seemed authentic. The handwriting appaered genuine, the seal was Shelley's and the addresses bore the stamp of the Post Offices of the italian towns where Shelley had lived. It happened that, at the same sale, the poet's son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, had bought other letters of his father, which were of a private and personal character. These letters were found to be at utter variance with well-known facts. Moxon at once suppressed the book, the auctionneer said that the letters had come to him from a bookseller named W. White. White, in turn, said that he had bought them from an unknown woman who claimed to have received them from Fletcher, Lord Byron's servant. Further search revealed that behind this unknown woman was the forger, George Gordon Byron, alias De Gibler. This adventurer bore a striking resemblance to Lord Byron, had assumed his name, and had passed himself off as Byron's natural son. He almost succeeded in palming off on a publisher some unedited remains of Lord Byron. As soon as the facts about the letters became known he disappeared. (...)"
Percy Shelley (1792-1822) fut considéré par ses contemporains comme un des poètes anglais les plus importants, mais aussi comme la figure la plus influente et la plus emblématique du mouvement romantique. Il avait épousé en secondes noces Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (1816),, connue dans la littérature sous le nom de Mary Shelley, l'auteur de l'impérissable Frankenstein ou le Prométhée moderne (Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus) paru en 1818, qu'il avait préfacé. Le couple perd ses trois premiers enfants en bas âge. Un quatrième enfant, Percy Florence Shelley leur survivra. L'été 1822 Shelley et son ami Williams construisent un petit voilier, l'Ariel, pour traverser le golfe de Livourne. Ils s'embarquent le 8 juillet accompagnés d'un jeune mousse, Charles Vivian. Le temps est lourd, la mer agitée. Après deux heures de navigation l'Ariel est submergé par la tempête. Au bout de dix jours, les trois corps seront rejetés sur la grève. Dans la veste de Shelley on retrouvera un petit volume d'Eschyle et un recueil de John Keats. Les corps seront incinérés à la manière antique sur la plage de Viareggio en présence de Byron et de Leigh Hunt, l'ami de Keats. Les cendres du poète seront placées dans le cimetière protestant de Rome.
Provenance : Exemplaire de la bibliothèque du célèbre bibliophile américain Robert Hoe (mort en 1909), avec son ex libris doré sur cuir bleu nuit. Cet exemplaire se retrouve au catalogue de la troisième vente de sa bibliothèque en 1905 (p.65). "Printed from forgeries, and suppressed." Robert Hoe ne possédait pas moins d'une trentaine d'éditions originales de Percy Shelley ou sur Percy Shelley, presque toutes reliées en maroquin par Riviere & Son. Le volume est passé ensuite dans la bibliothèque John Whipple Frothingham (ex libris héraldique gravé).
EXEMPLAIRE DE LA PRESTIGIEUSE BIBLIOTHÈQUE ROBERT HOE.
SUPERBE EXEMPLAIRE D'UN LIVRE RARE. UNE DES PLUS INGÉNIEUSES SUPERCHERIES LITTÉRAIRES DE LA LITTÉRATURE ANGLAISE MODERNE.
VENDU
