STUDY AIDS : ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Shelley's Reading

The Shelley household, wherever it was located, was intensely bookish: reading and writing consumed much of every day. So that the reading undertaken by Percy and Mary Shelley can be accessed usefully, it is presented here in three formats:

1. Alphabetically by author's name
2. Chronologically in order that the Shelleys read them
3. By date of original publication

Where an X occurs in the box designated for Percy Shelley's reading, it means that we are certain that he read the text, but are not sure that Mary did as well. In such a household, however, it is unwise to surmise that many books under perusal went undiscussed by the two. These lists are derived from The Journals of Mary Shelley: 1814-1844, ed. Paula R. Feldman and Diana Scott-Kilvert (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987).