Valperga: or, The Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca

London: for G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1823, 1823. FIRST EDITION OF HER SECOND NOVEL. 3 vols., 7-3/16" x 4-7/16", bound in 1/2 tan speckled calf, gilt decorated spines, gilt lettered black morocco spine labels, marbled edges, internally clean and bright, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spines fine, a VERY GOOD set. Shelley's second novel, a study of sexual politics, considered by many to be her finest work. "Her creation of Frankenstein at the age of eighteen is a marvel known to many; but few if any are aware that Valperga, her second novel, excels the first almost as much as Alastor surpasses Queen Mab. It is, indeed, her best novel, having (truncated) a richness of imaginative style and a creative force in combination with a thoroughness of scholarship that are exhibited in none of her other works. Shelley and Godwin enthusiastically recognized its advance beyond Frankenstein, and rightly expected great things of her in the future." (Frederick L. Jones The Letters of Mary W. Shelley) (Inventory #: 001228)