An unpublished letter by Percy Bysshe Shelley has been found in a privately
owned Victorian autograph collection held at a public record office in New
castle. The letter, dated 27 August 1820, is from Pisa and is addressed to
Charles Ollier, Shelley's London bookseller and publisher. It confirms seve
ral known aspects of Shelly's literary career, including Southey's denial o
f authorship of an anonymous attack on The Revolt of Islam. There are insig
hts into Shelley's relationship with his publisher, especially concerning O
llier's reluctance to publish a second edition of The Cenci, and new light
is shed upon the dating of Shelley's essay A Philosophical View of Reform.