Shelley's two editions of 1839 form the nucleus of the present volume,
and her notes are here reprinted in full; but the arrangement of the
poems differs to some extent from that followed by her--chiefly in
respect of "Queen Mab", which is here placed at the head of the
"Juvenilia", instead of at the forefront of the poems of Shelley's
maturity. In 1862 a slender volume of poems and fragments, entitled
"Relics of Shelley", was published by Dr. Richard Garnett, C.B.--a
precious sheaf gleaned from the manuscripts preserved at Boscombe
Manor. The "Relics" constitute a salvage second only in value to the
"Posthumous Poems" of 1824. To the growing mass of Shelley's verse yet
more material was added in 1870 by Mr. William Michael Rossetti, who
edited for Moxon the "Complete Poetical Works" published in that year.
To him we owe in particular a revised and greatly enlarged version of
the fragmentary drama of "Charles I". But though not seldom successful
in restoring the text, Mr. Rossetti pushed revision beyond the bounds
of prudence, freely correcting grammatical errors, rectifying small
inconsistencies in the sense, and too lightly adopting conjectural
emendations on the grounds of rhyme or metre. In the course of an
article published in the "Westminster Review" for July, 1870, Miss
Mathilde Blind, with the aid of material furnished by Dr. Garnett,
'was enabled,' in the words of Mr. Buxton Forman, 'to supply
omissions, make authoritative emendations, and controvert erroneous
changes' in Mr. Rossetti's work; and in the more cautiously edited
text of his later edition, published by Moxon in 1878, may be traced
the influence of her strictures.

Six years later appeared a variorum edition in which for the first
time Shelley's text was edited with scientific exactness of method,
and with a due respect for the authority of the original editions. It
would be difficult indeed to over-estimate the gains which have