Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley collection of papers

1822-1847

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist, best known as the author of Frankenstein. She also wrote short-stories, poetry, biographies, journal articles, reviews, and edited the works of her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. This is a synthetic collection that includes literary manuscripts and correspondence by Mary Shelley. The manuscripts include one holograph poem ("Stanzas") and one transcript of a poem by her husband, P. B. Shelley ("To the L[or]d C[hancello]r"). The correspondence dates from between 1822 and 1847. Correspondents include: Claire Clairmont, her stepsister; Leigh Hunt, the journalist and critic; John Howard Payne, the actor and writer; and a few others. Also held are copies of forty letters from Mary Shelley to Claire Clairmont, in the in the hand of Clairmont's niece, Paola Clairmont.