Research Catalog

Title

The last man / by the author of Frankenstein.

Author

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851.

Publication

London : Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1826.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Colburn, Henry, -1855
• Shackell and Arrowsmith, printer.

Description

3 volumes; 21 cm (12 mo)

Summary

Set in the late 21st century, the novel describes a pandemic plague which wipes out the human race, leaving only its narrator as the eponymous survivor.

Note

• "In three volumes."
• Epigraph: "Let no man seek / Henceforth to be foretold what shall befall / Him or his children" -- John Milton.
• Pagination: volume I: xi, [1], 358, [2] pages; volume II: [2], 328 pages; volume III: [2], 352 pages.
• Signatures: volume I: [A]⁶ B-Q¹²; volume II: [A]1 B-O¹² P⁶ Q²; volume III: [A]1 B-P¹² Q⁶ R².
• Printer's imprints: volume I: "Shackell, Arrowsmith & Hodges, Johnson's-Court, Fleet-Street."; volume II: "Shackell, Arrowsmith, and Hodges, Fleet-street, London."; volume III: "Shackell, Arrowsmith and Hodges, Johnson's-Court."
• Publisher's advertisements on pages [359-60] of volume I and on page 352 of volume III.

Access (note)

• Restricted access;

Indexed In (note)

• Lyles, W. Mary Shelley, An Annotated Bibliography
• Summers, M. A Gothic Bibliography
• Wise, T. J. A Shelley Library

Call Number

Pforz (Shelley, M. Last man. 1826. 1st ed. London)

OCLC

• 2554632
• 4440727

Author

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851.

Title

The last man / by the author of Frankenstein.

Publisher

London : Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1826.

Edition

[First edition].

Restricted Access

Restricted access; Pforzheimer Collection; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.

Indexed In:

Lyles, W. Mary Shelley, An Annotated Bibliography, B1c.

Summers, M. A Gothic Bibliography, page 383

Wise, T. J. A Shelley Library, page 18

Local Note

Wise notes that volume I, leaf Q12 is a blank. But in all NYPL copies this leaf contains publisher's advertisements.

Pforzheimer copy 1: Original drab boards, printed paper spine labels, leaves untrimmed; housed in individual blue cloth folders within a blue half morocco slipcase imitating three volumes, gilt titles and spine tooling, gilt CHP device on one side. -- Contemporary ink ownership signature "Eleanor Kennedy" to title-page of each volume; contemporary bookseller's ticket in volume I: Bound and sold by A. Brown & Co., booksellers, Aberdeen. -- Acquired by Carl H. Pforzheimer through Bernard Quaritch Ltd., September 1925.

Pforzheimer copy 2: Presentation copy from Mary Shelley to her friend Maria Gisborne: holograph ink inscription to title-page of volume I reads in full: "Alla Sua Carissima Amica - Maria Gisborne dall' Autrice - Mary Shelley Jan. 25. 1826" (MWS 0422). -- Original drab boards, printed paper spine labels, leaves untrimmed; housed in a red clamshell case, gilt title. -- In ink on front free endpapers: Carlingford/1885/; in pencil on front pastedowns: Bought from J. Wilson--1885. -- Acquired by Carl H. Pforzheimer through Maggs Brothers Ltd., December 1950.

Pforzheimer copy 3: Original blue-gray boards, tan paper spines, printed paper spine labels, leaves untrimmed. -- Contemporary ink ownership signature "Helena Eleanor R." to title-page of volume I and "Lady Helena Robinson" to upper cover of each volume. -- Acquired by the Pforzheimer Library through Harold Mortlake, September 1959.

Pforzheimer copy 4: Contains a holograph receipt by Thomas Love Peacock dated July 5, 1826 for "Fifty Pounds" received from William Whitton, the Shelley family solicitor, for the account of Mary Shelley (TLP 0070); receipt pasted to front flyleaf of volume I. -- Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spines tooled in gilt and blind, titles stamped in gilt. -- Ink ownership signature of Shelley scholar "Walter E. Peck/ Exeter College / Oxford" and morocco book-label of Jerome Kern to front pastedown of each volume (lot 1065 in part 2 of the Kern sale, Anderson galleries, January 1929). -- Acquired by the Pforzheimer Library through I. K. Fletcher, November 7, 1966.

Berg Coll Shelley, M. 1826 c. 1: Original blue boards, brown paper spines, printed paper spine labels, leaves untrimmed; housed in a brown cloth clamshell case, gilt titles. -- 4 pages of advertisements for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green dated December 1825 inserted at front of volume I. -- Contemporary ownership signature of Tom Kenwick to title-page or front free endpaper of each volume, dated February 23, 1826 in volume I; page [359], publisher's advertisements, with contemporary marginalia in pen and pencil, identifying one of the authors listed. -- From the library of Owen D. Young.

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Added Author

Colburn, Henry, -1855, publisher.

Shackell and Arrowsmith, printer.

Gisborne, Maria, 1770-1836, former owner.

Kern, Jerome, 1885-1945, former owner.

Kennedy, Eleanor, former owner.

Kenwick, Tom, former owner.

Peck, Walter Edwin, 1891-1954, former owner.

Pforzheimer, Carl H. (Carl Howard), 1879-1957, former owner.

Robinson, Helena Eleanor, former owner.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851, inscriber.

Young, Owen D., 1874-1962, former owner.

Research Call Number

Pforz (Shelley, M. Last man. 1826. 1st ed. London)

Berg Coll Shelley, M. 1826 c. 1