Shelley's first book of verse

The Pforzheimer Collection, at New York Public Library, now owns one of the rarest items by Shelley: Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire, 1810. This is Shelley's first book of verse. Only three other copies are known. The Bodleian Library, holder of the best Shelley collection in the world, does not have a copy.

Victor and Cazire was the creation of Shelley's wish to make an author of himself. It is also evidence of his inclination to literary collaboration; he was ‘Victor’ and his sister Elizabeth ‘Cazire’. The reason for its rarity is that its longest poem, ‘St. Edmond’s Eve’, is plagiarized from Tales of Terror, a collection of Gothic poems and Gothic parodies published in 1801. James Stockdale, Shelley’s publisher, detected the plagiarism just a few weeks after Victor and Cazire appeared. Although Shelley had already received a number of the books, most of the 1500 copies were destroyed.

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