Shelley and His Circle, 1773-1822

An essential collection of writings penned by the most celebrated figures of the Romantic era, presented in an authoritative two-volume set.

Volumes VII and VIII of Shelley and His Circle present a wide-ranging collection of Shelley and Lord Byron’s letters, notes, and manuscripts composed during their summer in Switzerland and their Italian periods—with a spotlight on their correspondence between 1816 and 1819. While Italy proved fertile ground for Byron’s literary output, the isolated Shelley found himself far from peers who had nurtured his talents in England.

Included are Shelley’s long letter to Thomas Love Peacock, describing his first acquaintance with Byron and their trip together around Lake Geneva, the press-copy manuscripts of Byron’s Beppo and Shelley’s “Athanase: A Fragment,” Shelley’s annotations in copies of William Godwin’s Political Justice and Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, and significant correspondence between Shelley, Godwin, and Leigh Hunt. Also included are dozens of letters chronicling Byron’s romance with the Italian countess Teresa Guiccioli, as they carried on an affair from different apartments in the Palazzo Guiccioli.

Through meticulously transcribed primary sources (including full translations of those in Italian and Latin) and fascinating reproductions of authentic letters, these volumes shed light on the highs and lows of Shelley and Byron’s sojourn across the Continent.