The Complete Poetical Works, vol 1 | Page 4

in the Bodleian Library, contributed by Dr.
Richard Garnett, C.B., to the columns of "The Speaker" of December
19, 1903:--
'From the textual point of view, Shelley's works may be divided into
three classes--those published in his lifetime under his own direction;
those also published in his lifetime, but in his absence from the press;
and those published after his death. The first class includes "Queen
Mab", "The Revolt of Islam", and "Alastor" with its appendages,
published in England before his final departure for the continent; and
"The Cenci" and "Adonais", printed under his own eye at Leghorn and
Pisa respectively. Except for some provoking but corrigible misprints
in "The Revolt of Islam" and one crucial passage in "Alastor", these
poems afford little material for conjectural emendation; for the
Alexandrines now and then left in the middle of stanzas in "The Revolt
of Islam" must remain untouched, as proceeding not from the printer's
carelessness but the author's. The second class, poems printed during
Shelley's lifetime, but not under his immediate inspection, comprise
"Prometheus Unbound" and "Rosalind and Helen", together with the
pieces which accompanied them,
"Epipsychidion", "Hellas", and
"Swellfoot the Tyrant". The correction of the most important of these,
the "Prometheus", was the least satisfactory. Shelley, though speaking
plainly to the publisher, rather hints than expresses his dissatisfaction
when writing to Gisborne, the corrector, but there is a pretty clear hint
when on a subsequent occasion he says to him, "I have received 'Hellas',
which is prettily printed, and with fewer mistakes than any poem I ever
published." This also was probably not without influence on his
determination to have "The Cenci" and "Adonais" printed in Italy...Of

the third class of Shelley's writings--those which were first published
after his death--sufficient facsimiles have been published to prove that
Trelawny's graphic description of the chaotic state of most of them was
really in no respect exaggerated...The difficulty is much augmented by
the fact that these pieces are rarely consecutive, but literally disiecti
membra poetae, scattered through various notebooks in a way to
require piecing together as well as deciphering. The editors of the
Posthumous Poems, moreover, though diligent according to their light,
were neither endowed with remarkable acumen nor possessed of the
wide knowledge requisite for the full
intelligence of so erudite a poet
as Shelley, hence the perpetration of numerous mistakes. Some few of
the manuscripts, indeed, such as those of "The Witch of Atlas", "Julian
and Maddalo", and the "Lines at Naples", were beautifully written out
for the press in Shelley's best hand, but their very value and beauty
necessitated the ordeal of transcription, with disastrous results in
several instances. An entire line dropped out of the "Lines at Naples",
and although "Julian and Maddalo" was extant in more than one very
clear copy, the printed text had several such sense-destroying errors as
"least" for "lead".
'The corrupt state of the text has stimulated the ingenuity of numerous
correctors, who have suggested many acute and convincing
emendations, and some very specious ones which sustained scrutiny
has proved untenable. It should be needless to remark that success has
in general been proportionate to the facilities of access to the
manuscripts, which have only of late become generally available. If
Shelley is less fortunate than most modern poets in the purity of his text,
he is more fortunate than many in the preservation of his manuscripts.
These have not, as regards a fair proportion, been destroyed or
dispersed at auctions, but were protected from either fate by their very
character as confused memoranda. As such they remained in the
possession of Shelley's widow, and passed from her to her son and
daughter-in-law. After Sir Percy Shelley's death, Lady Shelley took the
occasion of the erection of the monument to Shelley at University
College, Oxford, to present [certain of] the manuscripts to the Bodleian
Library, and verse and sculpture form an imperishable memorial of his
connection with the University where his residence was so brief and

troubled.' (Dr. Garnett proceeds:--'The most important of the Bodleian
manuscripts is that of "Prometheus Unbound", which, says Mr. Locock,
has the appearance of being an intermediate draft, and also the first
copy made. This should confer considerable authority on its variations
from the accepted text, as this appears to have been printed from a copy
not made by Shelley himself. "My 'Prometheus'," he writes to Ollier on
September 6, 1819, "is now being transcribed," an expression which he
would hardly have used if he had himself been the copyist. He wished
the proofs to be sent to him in Italy for correction, but to this Ollier
objected, and on May 14, 1820, Shelley signifies his acquiescence,
adding, however, "In this case I shall repose trust in your care
respecting the correction of the press; Mr. Gisborne will revise it; he
heard