SOME UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF MARY SHELLEY
BY FLORENCE BOYLSTON PELO 1916
This collection comprises twenty-three unpublished auto
graph letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the gifted
wife of the poet, written to their intimate friends, Mr. and
Mrs. Leigh Hunt. Delightful old letters they are, on age
yellowed paper, with broken seals and ink browned by time ;
they take us back a century, and gladly enough one goes,
to be in such excellent company as that of Shelley, Keats,
Lord Byron, and Charles Lamb.
The friendship between Hunt and Shelley began about
1812, when the young man Shelley sought counsel from him
on a manuscript poem; it ripened at the time Hunt was con
signed to jail for libeling the Prince Regent in an article
from his pen in the Examiner. Hunt says in his autobiog
raphy that " the imprisonment brought him acquainted with
Shelley." In 1816 Shelley visited Hunt, and after the sui
cide of Harriet Westbrook, Shelley's first wife, Hunt proved
in every way a valued and a sympathetic friend. Shelley
;was in need of sympathy, and Hunt gave it warmly. A
deep intimacy followed, lasting throughout Shelley's life
time ; and after his death the Hunts were close and near to
his widow, and Leigh Hunt gave her much valuable advice
and assistance in the compilation of the poet's works.
As the years progressed, the Shelleys and the Hunts
were frequent visitors at each other's houses. Hunt pos
sessed little business acumen, and Shelley's purse was al
ways at his disposal, while Hunt availed himself of every
opportunity to defend his friend against the all too numer
ous attacks of the press. It was with Mr. and Mrs. Hunt
that Shelley passed his last day in London. 

https://archive.org/details/lettersofmarywshe00shel/page/8/mode/2up

"This is one of the 150 copies printed by the Bibliophile Society for the owner of the original manuscript letters being subsequent to the ed. printed for the members."