Add MS 64434

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY: Shelley''s copy of L. Annaei Senecae Philosophi Opera, quae exstant omnia: a Justo Lipsio emendata et scholijs illustrata (second edition, Antwerp: ex Officina Plantiniana, 1615), with thirty-six pencil annotations in Shelley''s hand; 1815. The annotations are found on the flyleaf, and on pp. 349, 355, 417, 447, 484, 493, 516, 526 and 570. The present volume is mentioned several times in Mary Wollstonecraft''s journal for the period. On 18 April she records Claire Clairmont''s gift of the volume to Shelley. In the following month she records his reading of it: on 4 May he had reached p. 124, on 5 May p. 143, on 10 May p. 308, and on 11 May p. 322. On 10 May she comments ''Shelley reads Seneca every day and all day''. At the head of the page bearing the half-title is the inscription ''P. B. Shelley from his affectionate Clara Clairmont April 18th 1815''. At the head of the title-page is an early 17th-cent. ownership inscription ''patior ut potiar. Will: H tley'', partly rubbed away, and on the verso of the title-page the bookplate of ''Sr. John Anstruther of that ilk Baronet''. Purchased at Sotheby''s, 18 Dec. 1986, lot 87.

Paper; pp. a-q; i-xxxvi; 1-795 796; 1-50, 49, 50, 53; r-v. 360 x 230mm. (leaves), 370 x 235mm. (binding).