Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab

Mark Sandy (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1813

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection

Resources

Shelley's first major lengthy narrative poem, Queen Mab; A Philosophical Poem; With Notes, had originally been intended for publication by Thomas Hookham and composed between June 1812 and late February 1813. Some 250 copies of Queen Mab were printed in May 1813 with Shelley's name and address appearing as that of the printers. Increasingly concerned about the radical nature of his work, however, Shelley eradicated his name and distributed 70 copies to those readers he deemed sympathetic to his sentiments rather than offering the whole print run up for immediate sale. Nearly a decade later, in 1821, William Clark, a London publisher, purchased the 180 reminder copies and sold them among the radical working-class. He …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

974 words

Citation: Sandy, Mark. "Queen Mab". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2505, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Save this article