Shelley and His Circle, 1773–1822, Volumes 11 and 12

An essential collection of writings penned by the most celebrated figures of the Romantic era, presented in an authoritative two-volume set.Volumes XI and XII complete the Shelley and His Circle collection, shedding light on Shelley’s unfulfilled literary and personal aspirations in the months prior to his drowning. Comprising nearly 200 manuscripts from 1821 to 1822, the set includes new translations of Italian correspondence and fresh transcriptions of published material, including Shelley’s “Triumph of Life,” a series of short poems in Italian by Lord Byron, and a fragment of Byron’s drama Heaven and Earth.The manuscripts, essays, and letters in these volumes chronicle how Byron’s connection to Countess Teresa Guiccioli’s politically imperiled family dictated his movements in Italy—ultimately leading to his reunion with Shelley and the formation of the short-lived Pisan Circle. Selections of Leigh Hunt’s correspondence are presented in full for the first time, as are previously unpublished letters of Edward John Trelawny, along with his eyewitness account of the cremation of Shelley’s remains. The reproduction of a proof copy of the Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, complete with Mary Shelley’s handwritten corrections, further enriches these closing volumes.Annotated manuscripts from the period immediately after Shelley’s death offer a record of the anxieties and dashed hopes of his survivors amid the search for the lost poet and his close friend Edward E. Williams, who drowned alongside him. The collection closes with an unpublished letter by the widowed Mary Shelley, as she prepared for her reluctant return to England.