of no great English poet, and certainly none whose literary career at
the most extended for not more than thirteen years, can have borne
the names of so many separate firms. Until he placed his poems in the
hands of the Olliers, almost every book was issued by a new publisher.
Every one of his works was a failure, and only one went into a second
edition; his wide fame as a poet was entirely posthumous. Although
none of Shelley's publishers was sufficiently interested to repeat the
experience of issuing a second book by him, he was not discouraged
by this want of sympathy. He continued until the end to write and
to print his works at his own expense, and, if possible, to find
publishers for them. In the absence of a publisher he issued them
himself. He began and ended by verse-writing, but in the interval his
work was varied enough, comprising novels, drama, philosophy, satire,
religious polemics, and politics. In recalling some facts connected
with Shelley's literary enterprises a curious repetition of names and
incidents will be noticeable. There were two separate publishers of
the name of Stockdale with whom he treated, one in Pall Mall and the
other in Dublin. There was an Eton and an Eaton, the former a printer
in Dublin, and the latter the publisher of the Third Part of Paine's
_Age of Reason_, on behalf of whom Shelley wrote his _Letter to Lord
Ellenborough_. Stockdale, of Pall Mall, and Munday, of Oxford, both
listened with astonishment to his unrestrained conversation on matters
of religion, and endeavoured to lead him into an orthodox frame of
mind. His boyish appearance and engaging enthusiasm undoubtedly made
a strong appeal to them. There was a prolonged similarity in the fate
of some of his early productions. Practically the whole edition of the
_Victor and Cazire_ volume was destroyed at the author's request, and
_The Necessity of Atheism_ and the _Letter to Lord Ellenborough_ shared
a like fate, though without Shelley's consent.
In the year 1809 Shelley and his cousin, Tom Medwin, wrote a poem
in the style of Scott's narrative verse on _The Wandering Jew_. It
was sent to Scott's publisher, Ballantyne, of Edinburgh, who replied
that it was "better suited to the character and liberal feelings
of the English than the bigoted spirit" which the writer declared
"yet pervades many cultivated minds in this country. Even Walter
Scott is assailed on all hands at present by our Scotch spiritual
and evangelical magazines and institutions for having promulgated
atheistical doctrines with _The Lady of the Lake_." This astonishing
statement was evidently an excuse for declining _The Wandering Jew_,
which found no publisher during Shelley's lifetime. He was, however, at
that date busily occupied with his novel _Zastrozzi_, which he offered
to Longmans. He may have been drawn to that firm as the publishers of a
romance, which he is said to have admired and indeed to have imitated
in _Zastrozzi_, entitled _Zofloya, or the Moor_, by Mrs. Byron, or
Charlotte Dacre, better known by her pseudonym, Rosa Malilda. Although
rejected by Longmans, _Zastrozzi_ was published while Shelley was still
at Eton by another Paternoster Row firm, Wilkie and Robinson. We are
told that the young author received £40 or £50 for the book, apparently
the only money he ever earned by his pen, which sum he spent in
providing a farewell banquet to twelve of his schoolfellows.
There is a tradition that Shelley's grandfather, Sir Bysshe, paid for
the printing at Horsham of some of the boy's earliest writings, but
apparently none of these efforts has survived. Local printing offices
seem to have had an attraction for Shelley; we shall see later that he
printed books at Dublin, Barnstaple, Oxford, Leghorn, and Pisa.
Shelley's selection of Worthing, rather than Horsham, for his next
venture may have been determined by his desire for secrecy. He made
a selection of seventeen poems by himself and his sister Elizabeth
with the title of _Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire_, and put it
into the hands of C. and W. Phillips, of Worthing. A daughter of the
printer, "an intelligent, brisk young woman," was the active member
of the firm, with whom Shelley was on very good terms. Shelley took
great interest in the technical side of the business, and spent hours
in the printing office learning typesetting. Some months later when
at Oxford he had occasion to find a printer for his pamphlet, _The
Necessity of Atheism_, he again resorted to Messrs. Phillips, who both
printed and added their names to the tract. When Shelley got into
trouble in connection with _The Necessity_, his father's solicitors
drafted a letter warning the printers of an impending prosecution, and
recommending them not to proceed with the printing of any manuscripts
that they might have by Shelley. Apparently the letter was never sent,
and no prosecution was instituted against the printers, as Munday,
the Oxford bookseller, who had been an unwilling agent in selling the
pamphlet, sent a similar warning to them.
Before the printing of the _Original Poetry of Victor and Cazire_ was
completed, Shelley called on J. J. Stockdale, a publisher in Pall Mall,
and persuaded him to publish the volume. Stockdale was a man with a
doubtful past, who had issued a good deal of verse on commission for
obscure verse-writers, besides the scandalous _Memoirs of Harriette
Wilson_. In later years he described, in _Stockdale's Budget_, a
curious publication which is to be seen in the British Museum, how he
received 1480 copies of the _Original Poetry_, and how he discovered,
after some of them had been sent out to the press, that the volume
contained a poem by M. G. Lewis. On inviting Shelley to explain
this circumstance, the poet "expressed the warmest resentment at
the imposition practised upon him by the coadjutor," and instructed
Stockdale to destroy all the remaining copies; only three or four are
now known to have survived. In the meantime Stockdale had undertaken
to revive and publish Shelley's second novel, _St. Irvyne: or, the
Rosicrucian_. The author's expectation to get at least £60 for this
romance from Robinson, the publisher of _Zastrozzi_, was not realised,
as the terms arranged with Stockdale were that the book should be
published at the author's expense. The publisher mournfully recorded
the fact some years later that the romance did not sell, and that
he was never paid for the printer's bill. While _St. Irvyne_ was
going through the press Shelley used to call at Stockdale's shop.
The publisher became alarmed at the tone of Shelley's conversation,
and, in the hope that his intentions would be well received, he
communicated his suspicions to Shelley's father. Mr. Timothy Shelley,
however, only snubbed Stockdale for his pains. Shelley was furious at
the interference, and all hopes of obtaining a settlement of his bill
vanished.
When Mr. Timothy Shelley took his son up to Oxford in October, 1810,
he called with him at the shop of Munday & Slatter, the booksellers,
where he advised him to get his supplies of books and stationery.
Then, turning to the bookseller, he said, "My son here has a literary
turn, he is already an author, and do pray indulge him in his printing
freaks." A month later Shelley took some of his verses to Munday, who
agreed to publish them. His friend Hogg saw the proofs and, ridiculing
their intended sincerity, suggested that with some corrections they
would make burlesque poetry. Shelley somewhat reluctantly agreed, and
the verses were altered to fit the title of _The Posthumous Verses
of Margaret Nicholson_, edited by her nephew, John Fitzvictor. The
lady in question was a mad washerwoman, who had attempted the life of
George III. in 1786, and was in 1810 still an inmate of Bedlam, though
nominally dead as far as the world was concerned.
The fictitious nephew Fitzvictor was apparently a son of the Victor who
had but recently collaborated with the peccant Cazire. When Shelley
informed the bookseller that he had changed his mind about publishing,
and showed him the altered verses, Munday was so pleased with the idea
that he offered to publish the book on his own account, promising
secrecy and as many gratis copies as might be required. The book was
issued as a bold quarto, and it became the fashion, says Hogg, among
gownsmen to be seen reading it in the High Street, "as a mark of nice
discernment of a delicate and fastidious taste in poetry and the very
criterion of a choice spirit." Shelley was frequently in Munday &
Slatter's shop, where he was in the habit of talking on his favourite
subjects. The booksellers, like Stockdale, became uneasy at the tone
of his conversation and endeavoured to reason with him. Failing to
make any impression, they persuaded him to meet a Mr. Hobbes, for
whom they afterwards published a poetical work called _The Widower_.
Mr. Hobbes undertook "to analyse Shelley's arguments, and endeavoured
to refute them philosophically." But Shelley was not convinced; he
declined to reply in writing to Mr. Hobbes' arguments, and declared
that he would rather meet any or all of the dignitaries of the Church
than one philosopher. If Mr. Hobbes' arguments were no better than his
verses, Shelley was fully justified in his objections. Mr. Slatter,
who has left a record of these facts, tells us that when some months
later Shelley strewed the windows and counters of Munday's shop with
copies of _The Necessity of Atheism_, which he had caused to be printed
by his Worthing friends the Phillips, he instructed their shopman to
sell the pamphlet as fast as he could at a charge of sixpence each. The
result was magical. Mr. Walker, Fellow of New College, dropped into the
shop and examined the tract and drew the booksellers' attention to its
dangerous tendency. They resolved to destroy the copies, and promptly
made a bonfire of them in the back kitchen. Shelley's expulsion from
the University followed in due course.
Shelley's activities in Dublin, in February and March, 1812, made
it necessary for him to employ a printer, or printers, for his two
pamphlets, _An Address to the Irish People_ and _Proposals for an
Association of Philanthropists_, but neither of these tracts bore
the name of a publisher, and there are no details forthcoming of the
circumstances connected with their production. Shelley, however, placed
a collection of his poems in the hands of a firm of Dublin printers,
Messrs. R. and J. Stockdale, but they refused to proceed with the book
until they were paid, and it was never issued. The manuscript was
recovered after Shelley left Dublin, and remained unprinted for seventy
years, until Professor Dowden included some selections from it in his
_Life of Shelley_.
I can find no record of when or how Shelley first met Thomas Hookham,
but his earliest published letter to him, July 29th, 1812, was
evidently preceded by others that have not been preserved. Hookham's
Library was an old-established business in Old Bond Street, and about
the year 1811 Thomas Hookham the younger and his brother Edward started
publishing on their own account at their father's address. They issued
the second edition of Peacock's _The Genius of the Thames_ and _The
Philosophy of Melancholy_, and Hogg's novel, _Memories of Prince Alexy
Haimatoff_, of which Shelley subsequently wrote a review. Shelley sent
Thomas Hookham copies of his _Letter to Lord Ellenborough_, which he
had printed at Barnstaple, but the tract shared the same fate as _The
Necessity of Atheism_, and was destroyed by the printer as a dangerous
publication. One copy was preserved by Hookham, the only one now known
to exist; it is in the Bodleian Library. In March, 1813, when Shelley
was in Dublin for the second time, he sent Hookham the manuscript of
_Queen Mab_, and added that he was preparing the notes to be printed
with the poem, which was to be long, philosophical, and anti-Christian.
"Do not," he said, "let the title-page be printed before the body of
the poems. I have a motto to introduce from Shakespeare and a preface.
I shall expect no success. Let only 250 copies be printed in a small
neat quarto, on fine paper, and so as to catch the aristocrats. They
will not read it, but their sons and daughters may." Nothing further
seems to be known about the printing of the poem. It was issued as a
small octavo, with a title-page bearing the name of Shelley as author
as well as printer, and the address of his father-in-law, 23 Chapel
Street, Grosvenor Square. The late Mr. Edward Hookham, Thomas Hookham's
nephew, stated that _Queen Mab_ was the cause of Shelley's quarrel
with Hookham. A coolness was certainly evident between the poet and
the publisher after Shelley came to London in 1813. _Queen Mab_ may
have been placed in the printer's hands before Hookham saw the notes,
and when he saw them he probably declined to go on with the book or
allow it to bear his name. But Shelley's connection with Hookham, which
previous to this rupture had been friendly, was not entirely severed,
for Hookham's imprint, with Ollier's, appears on _The History of a Six
Week's Tour_, 1817. Thomas Hookham was a cultivated and well-read man
and the author of an anonymous little record of foreign travel which
he undertook during the same year as Shelley's visit to the Continent,
and published as _A Walk through Switzerland in September_, 1816. He
is said to have written the _Shelley Memorials_, which is described on
the title-page as by Lady Shelley, the wife of Shelley's son. Thomas
Hookham's brother, Edward, was the friend and correspondent of Thomas
Love Peacock, whose letters to him have been lately printed.
_The Vindication of Natural Diet_, Shelley's vegetarian tract, was
reprinted in 1813 from one of the notes to _Queen Mab_. As the text
of the pamphlet differs in some respects from that as given with the
poem, it is evident that Shelley was responsible for the reprint,
which was issued by J. Calow, a medical bookseller in Soho. Nothing,
however, is known of the circumstances connected with the publication
of this tract, and there are no references to it in Shelley's published
correspondence.
John Murray was not one of Shelley's publishers, but he had some
correspondence in 1816 with the Great Cham of Albemarle Street. In
his first letter he described himself as "a total stranger" and
offered Murray the publication of _Alastor_, of which he had printed
250 copies at his own expense. The offer was declined, and the book
was subsequently published by two firms, Baldwin, Craddock & Joy, of
Paternoster Row, and Carpenter & Son, of Old Bond Street. In the summer
of that year Shelley was in Switzerland with Byron, who requested him
to correct and see through the press the third canto of _Childe Harold_
and _The Prisoner of Chillon_. Shelley brought the MS. of the _Childe_
with him to England, and when he saw Murray he reminded him that he
wished to see the proofs. From a later letter it appears that Murray
announced the poems without sending the proofs to Shelley, who at once
wrote urging him to carry out Byron's request.
The names of the Olliers, Shelley's last publishers, first appear
on the title-page of his Hermit of Marlow pamphlet, _A Proposal
for Putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom_, 1817. This
tract must have been one of the first publications of Charles and
James Ollier to bear their imprint, for they commenced business at
3 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in the year 1817. The Ollier
family was of French descent, but they had been settled in the West of
England for many years. Charles Ollier, Shelley's correspondent in
his negotiations with the firm, was born at Bath in 1788, came up to
London and entered a banking house. At an early age he showed a liking
for literature, and developed a taste for collecting and reading old
books. He subsequently became an author and the friend of authors,
among whom was Leigh Hunt, who probably introduced him to Shelley.
Ollier and Hunt were both devoted to the theatre and to music. Hunt
addressed his verses, "A Thought on Music: suggested by a Private
Concert, May 13th, 1815," to Ollier, who published some volumes of
Hunt's poetry. One of the earliest of the Olliers' publications was
Keats's first volume of _Poems_, 1817. The book, unhappily, was not
well received, and Keats, who attributed its want of success to the
neglect of his publishers, took his next volume, _Endymion_, to another
firm. The Olliers published besides Lamb's works in two volumes, 1818,
and Ollier's own stories, _Altham and His Wife_ and _Inesilla_, all
of which are mentioned in the letters printed below. Shelley followed
up his pamphlet with a more ambitious venture, namely, _Laon and
Cythna_, which he printed at his own expense, and arranged for it to be
published jointly by Sherwood, Neeby, & Jones, and the Olliers. Before
the book was published, but after some copies had been sent out, Ollier
discovered in the poem certain passages which he regarded as too frank
for circulation, at least by his hands. Shelley agreed, though not
without some vigorous protests, to tone down the offending expressions,
and the book was issued, with the names of the Olliers alone, as _The
Revolt of Islam_. The correspondence relating to this and other matters
has been published, but the following letters to Ollier have not, so
far as I am aware, been printed, except portions of the first and last.
Ollier apparently kept all the letters that he received from Shelley,
but when Mrs. Shelley asked for the use of them, he declined on the
score that they were valuable to him and he had been offered no money.
To conclude these remarks on Ollier, it may be mentioned that he also
published for Shelley _The Cenci_, second edition (1821), _Rosalind and
Helen_ (1819), _Prometheus Unbound_ (1820), _Epipsychidion_ (1821), and
_Hellas_ (1822). He also issued a publication called _Olliers' Literary
Miscellany_ (1820), to which Peacock contributed an essay on Poetry.
This essay prompted Shelley to write as a reply his eloquent _Defence
of Poetry_, which was intended for a later issue, but the first was the
only number issued. The Olliers abandoned publishing in 1822, the year
of Shelley's death. Their want of success was attributed to a lack of
business capacity on the part of the partners and insufficient capital.
To CHARLES OLLIER.
[Great Marlow],
March 14, 1817.
DEAR SIR,--Be so kind as to let the Books I ordered (so far as you have
completed them) to be sent together with my prints immediately--by the
Marlow Coach.
Mr. Hunt has, I believe, commissioned you to get me a _proof_
impression of a print done from a drawing by Harlowe of Lord Byron: I
said that it should be framed in oak, but I have changed my mind and
wish it to be finished in black.
How does the pamphlet sell?
Dear sir, yours very truly,
P. B. SHELLEY.
Send in addition Mawe's _Gardening Calendar_.
Marlow,
April 23, 1817.
Mr. Shelley requests Messrs. Ollier will have the goodness to send the
books and the little pictures as soon as they can.
In great haste,
Bagni di Lucca,
June 28, 1818.
DEAR SIR,--I write simply to request you to pay ten pounds on my
account to a person who will call on you, and _on no account_ to
mention my name. If you have no money of mine still pay it at all
events and cash the enclosed at the bank.
Ever most truly yours,
P. B. SHELLEY.
The person will bring a note without date signed A. B.
It is of so great consequence that this note should be paid that I hope
if there is any mistake with Brookes you will pay it for me, and if you
have none of mine in your hands, that you will rely on my sending it
you by return of Post.
[Postmark] F. P. O., Se[p.] 1, 1818.
DEAR SIR,--Oblige me by honouring a draft of £20 that will be presented
to you signed A. B. If there should be any mistake with the bankers it
shall be rectified by return of Post, but I earnestly intreat you to
pay the draft.
Of course these letters are put to my account.
Sir, yours very truly,
PERCY B. SHELLEY.
I had just sealed my other letter when I discovered the necessity of
writing again.
Probably August 20 to 24, 1819.
DEAR SIR,--Yesterday evening came your parcel, which seems to have been
above a year on its voyage. Be good enough to write soon, instantly,
about my books, etc., and how the eclogue[10] sells, and whether you
wish to continue to publish for me. _I_ have no inclination to change
unless you wish it, as your neglect might give me reason to suppose. I
have only had time to look at Lamb's works, but _Altham_ and _Endymion_
are both before me.
[10] _Rosalind and Helen._
I have two works of some length, one of a very popular character, ready
for the press.
Be good enough to pay for me seven pounds to Mr. Hunt.
With best wishes for your literary and all other success.
I am, yours truly,
P. B. SHELLEY.
Pray send a copy of my Poem or anything which I may hereafter publish
to Mr. Keats with my best regards.[11]
[11] Shelley had cancelled here "If I should say when I
have read it that I admire _Endymion_ he probably."
Accept my thanks for _Altham and His Wife_: I have no doubt that the
pleasure in store for me this evening will make me desire the company
of their cousin _Inesilla_.
Postmark May 30, 1820.
Pray tell me--are there any differences between you and Mr. Hunt, and
if so, do they regard the advance either made or proposed to be made to
him on my quitting England?
You know I pledged myself to you to see all right [on] that subject,
and if any dispute should have arisen without giving me an opportunity
of arranging it, I have reason to think myself slighted--I imagine you
cannot mistake the motives which suggest this question. Mrs. Shelley is
now transcribing for me the little poems to be printed at the end of
_Prometheus_; they will be sent in a post or two.
Pisa,
April 30, 1820.
DEAR SIR,--I observe that an edition of _The Cenci_ is advertised as
published in Paris by Galignani.[12] This, though a piracy both upon
the author and the publisher, is a proof of an expectation of a certain
demand for sale that probably will soon exhaust the small edition I
sent you. In your reprint you will be guided of course by the apparent
demand. I send a list of errata; the incorrectness of the forms of
typography, etc., which are considerably numerous, you will be so
obliging as to attend to yourself. I cannot describe the trouble I had
with the Italian printer.
[12] This edition was never published.
I request you to give me an immediate answer to the questions of my
last letters. Reynell the printer has sent in his account for the
_Six Weeks' Tour_, which of course I counted upon to pay from the
profits--and I therefore suspend my answer until I receive yours and
Hookham's accounts. I do not particularly care about an account item by
item. I only wish to possess a general idea of our mutual situations
in regard to profit and loss--and this will be afforded by your reply
to my late letters, which I reiterate my request that you will be good
enough to attend to.
Mr. and Mrs. Gisborne, my particular friends, are now on the point of
leaving Italy; they will call on you; and any politeness in your power
to them I shall regard as a particular favour to myself. Be kind enough
to present them with copies of whatever I have published. They only
propose to stay in England a few weeks.
I beg you to send me all the _abuse_.
Dear Sir,
Your obliged faithful Servt.,
PERCY B. SHELLEY.
Address Pisa.
I have just heard from Mr. Hunt, who tells me that you propose
publishing _Peter Bell_. This I have no objection to provided my name
is _entirely suppressed_, not that I am not ready to answer to anything
that it contains, but that I think it a trifle unworthy of me seriously
to acknowledge.
Naples,
February 29, 1818.
Postmark F.P.O., Mr. 20, 1819.
DEAR SIR,--Pray let me hear from you addressed to Rome on the several
subjects of my last letter, and especially to inform me of the name of
the ship and the mode of address by which my box was sent. As yet I
have no tidings of it.
Your obliged servant,
PERCY B. SHELLEY.
N.B.--If you do not write within three months after the receipt of this
address as before, Mr. Gisborne, Livorno.
Pisa,
June 16, 1821.