MATHILDA

By MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY

Edited by ELIZABETH NITCHIE


THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
CHAPEL HILL

Mathilda _is being published
in paper as Extra Series #3
of_ Studies in Philology.




PREFACE


This volume prints for the first time the full text of Mary Shelley's
novelette _Mathilda_ together with the opening pages of its rough
draft, _The Fields of Fancy_. They are transcribed from the microfilm
of the notebooks belonging to Lord Abinger which is in the library of
Duke University.

The text follows Mary Shelley's manuscript exactly except for the
omission of mere corrections by the author, most of which are
negligible; those that are significant are included and explained in
the notes. Footnotes indicated by an asterisk are Mrs. Shelley's own