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 both of them can be accessed usefully,
it is presented here in three formats:
- Alphabetically by author's name
- Chronologically in order that the Shelleys
read them
- By date of original publication
Where an X occurs in the box designated for 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).
