Shelley was like a node in a network, connected to a number of the interesting people of his time, and inevitably, a biography of Shelley tells their stories too. And many of these stories are tragic – a look at the family tree of the extended Shelley/Wollestonecraft/Godwin Family shows many lives cut short. Shelley’s second wife was Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, and the child Mary Wollstonecraft died giving birth to. His first wife, who eloped with him at the age of 16, committed suicide after he abandoned her for Mary. Mary’s step-sister was Claire Clairmont, who bore Byron a child, that he appeared to care little for. She died at the age of 5 from Typhus after being left in a convent.
The description of their world is unfamiliar, and trying to comprehend the descriptions of the way people behaved and thought gives the story much of its interest. It is a world without personal freedom, with fundamental and tragic consequences from trying to live a life outside Society’s constraints. But the blame is shared, and its consequences affect the lives of children, parents and siblings. The story of Mary’s sister Fanny Imlay seems particularly tragic.
Maurois is clearly impressed with Shelley: he shows him as principled but naive. The women all seem jealous and needy. Byron comes across as despicable, unprincipled, weak, vain and treacherous, seeing himself as superior to the Shelleys because of their atheism. And of course, the story is always moving towards Shelly’s death. The details of Shelley’s corpse, and its cremation are almost jarringly graphic.
There is something very encouraging about the fact that they chose a biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley as the first book of the fledgling Penguin venture. Clearly it was a wise choice, and I think the book must have been very popular in its day, as it is fairly easy to find copies from the 1930s, but no later editions until anniversary copies start to be printed in the 1980s.
Ariel reviewed elsewhere:
Clothes in Books
Ariel reviewed elsewhere:
Clothes in Books
How much would a 1930s copy set you back these days?
ReplyDeleteI have a 1st edition copy that I purchased here in Perth for $1 at a secondhand book sale two years ago, and another early copy I paid 2 pounds for at Oxfam in Kentish Town, so you can find cheap copies if you look out for them. I've seen copies on ebay for 50 pounds, and on Abebooks for twice that, but who knows if people actually buy them at those prices.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed a copy on ebay UK today of a 1st edition copy at 1 pound with only 1 bid and one day to go, so it seems that even on ebay you can still come across cheap copies.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice how much it went for in the end?
ReplyDeleteHi Adam,
ReplyDeleteSorry to say that I forgot all about it. I tend to only scan ebay for books priced reasonably, because in the last year or so prices for these old Penguins have jumped considerably. I'll keep a watch and post back.
I am delighted to have found this site. My father began to collect the Penguin books for me, his only child when my mother became pregnant with me inJanuary 1936. Sadly, many of his first editions went missing after my mother died in 1944 and our beongings were farmed out with friends. Paper backed books were not highly regarded in those days. However I still own my dad's orignal copy of Ariel one of only about 20 First Editions which survived the ravages of his friends. I have about 10000 of the Pengiun books. Gill Jackson
ReplyDeleteit's written with serifs... Ironic. Did you know, arial was inspired by Ariel - printed by Penguin with Gill Sans -- Sans-serif font. Now internet global font is probably arial. It's all without serifs. Wikipedia, google and youtube as their mom are using arial. Because of this book, read by man from IBM.
ReplyDelete