{"id":1396,"date":"2012-10-08T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T20:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2012-11-15T16:40:06","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T16:40:06","slug":"special-collections-mary-and-percy-shelley-letter-mentions-frankenstein-rejections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/2012\/10\/08\/special-collections-mary-and-percy-shelley-letter-mentions-frankenstein-rejections\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary and Percy Shelley Letter Mentions Frankenstein Rejections – 2 of 3 from Peter Balestrieri"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Handwritten<\/a><\/p>\n

Second in our series of three blog posts from Peter Balestrieri examining our holdings relating to Mary Shelley\u2019s novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On August 16, 1817, Mary began writing a letter to Marianne Hunt, Leigh Hunt\u2019s wife. The Hunt\u2019s and the Shelley\u2019s were close friends, their correspondence is extensive, and many of those letters are held here in the Brewer-Leigh Hunt Collection. This particular letter, written by both Mary and Percy Shelley, sheds light on their daily lives as her novel Frankenstein<\/em> faced rejections before its eventual publication and fame.<\/p>\n

In late summer, Mary Shelley was nineteen, pregnant, and trying to get Frankenstein<\/em>, published. The manuscript had been rejected by her husband\u2019s publisher, Charles Ollier, and by Lord Byron\u2019s publisher, John Murray. Mary had spent the summer entertaining the Shelley\u2019s many visitors, giving charity to the poor, and editing her and Shelley\u2019s travel journals from their 1814 trip to Europe. She was also caring for her son, William, little \u201cWillmouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary\u2019s letter to Marianne is filled with family news regarding their pregnancies, need for a nurse, and the sad news of the legal decision to send Shelley\u2019s children by his first wife to be raised by a clergyman. Mary also writes that she is sending the Hunt\u2019s some money; they were always in need of money. Mary signs off with good wishes and encouragement, believing that things will improve for Marianne.<\/p>\n

One can imagine Percy Shelley entering the room at some point and asking, \u201cTo whom are you writing, my queen?\u201d When informed of the letters\u2019 recipient, he may have said, \u201cLet me add a few lines when you have finished.\u201d He does, and in these few lines we see a reference to Frankenstein<\/em> and the trouble they are having with its publication. Percy Shelley writes, \u201cPoor Mary\u2019s book has come back with a refusal which has put me in rather ill spirits.\u201d He is referring to Ollier\u2019s rejection of the book and he goes on to ask if the Hunt\u2019s know of any publishers that might be interested in it. By the end of the month, the novel is accepted by Lackington\u2019s and Frankenstein<\/em> is born.<\/p>\n

The letter can be viewed online at the University Library\u2019s Digital Library, http:\/\/digital.lib.uiowa.edu\/cdm\/compoundobject\/collection\/leighhunt\/id\/89\/rec\/5<\/a> and in person (MsL S54hu) at Special Collections and University Archives in the Main Library.<\/p>\n

For more on Frankenstein visit the National Institutes of Health traveling exhibition, \u201cFrankenstein: Penetrating the Secrets of Nature\u201d that is on display at the second floor south entrance of University Capitol Centre through Nov. 2.\u00a0 http:\/\/now.uiowa.edu\/2012\/10\/genetics-frankenstein-future<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Second in our series of three blog posts from Peter Balestrieri examining our holdings relating to Mary Shelley\u2019s novel Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus. On August 16, 1817, Mary began writing a letter to Marianne Hunt, Leigh Hunt\u2019s wife. The Hunt\u2019s and the Shelley\u2019s were close friends, their correspondence is extensive, and many of thoseContinue reading “Mary and Percy Shelley Letter Mentions Frankenstein Rejections – 2 of 3 from Peter Balestrieri”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,40],"syndication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1658,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396\/revisions\/1658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/speccoll\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=1396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}