SHELLEY (MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT)


Autograph draft of the second portion of her story 'The Invisible Girl by the Author of Frankenstein', with autograph revisions throughout, some made currente calamo, the manuscript opening: "of a rock, which looks over the sea. We never saw it before this summer, and now each night it is to be seen -- at least when it is looked for; for we cannot see it from our village -- and it is such an out of the way place, that no one has need to go near it – except through a chance like this. Some say it is burnt by witches, some say by smugglers – but this I know, two parties have been to search, and found nothing but the bare walls of the tower -- all is deserted by day, & dark by night – for no light was to be seen while we were there though it burnt sprightly enough when we were out at sea.' – 'I have heard say,' observed the younger sailor, 'it is burnt by the ghost of a Maiden who lost her sweetheart in these parts – he being wrecked, and his body found at the foot of the tower – she goes by the name among us of the 'Invisible Girl.'..."; and ending: "...'For I may die,' wrote the hapless girl, 'but marry another – never!' – That single word, indeed, had sufficed to betray her secret, had it not been already discovered – as it was it gave encreased fury to Sir Peter, as his sister triumphantly pointed it out to him"; guard inscribed in a nineteenth century collector's hand "Mrs Shelley – Author of Frankenstein &c", 4 pages, on a single bifolium, paginated from 5 to 8, the lower half of the second leaf removed but without any loss or interruption of the text, remains of nineteenth century paper guard, some light dust-staining and one or two fox-marks, some nicks at the edges and slight wear where originally folded, but overall in attractive and sound condition, 4to, [July 1832]
|'SHE GOES BY THE NAME AMONG US OF THE "INVISIBLE GIRL"' – THE NEWLY-DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT OF PART OF A GOTHICK TALE BY MARY SHELLEY, PUBLISHED AS 'THE INVISIBLE GIRL BY THE AUTHOR OF FRANKENSTEIN'.'The Invisible Girl by the Author of Frankenstein' was published in the Keepsake annual for 1833, the manuscript being sent to the editor, Frederic Mansel Reynolds, on 26 July 1832 (see Clare O. Needham and Charles Cuykendall Carter, 'A Guide to the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Manuscript Material in the Pforzheimer Collection', MWS 0323, in Stephen Wagner and Doucet Devin Fischer, The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle: a History, a Biography, and a Guide, 1996). One other section of the original manuscript is known to survive. This is held by the Pforzheimer (MWS 0323) and comprises a bifolium carrying the story to its conclusion. From this and the emergence of our manuscript, a bifolium paginated from 5 to 9, we can conclude that the original manuscript originally consisted of four bifolia, as follows: (i) the missing first section, breaking off '...built on the top', at 1,530 words in the published text; (ii) ours, from "of a rock, which looks over the sea..." to "...as his sister triumphantly pointed it out to him", at 1,586 words in the published text; (iii) the third section, beginning 'for it need hardly be said that while the ink of the address was yet wet,' and ending '...all was silent, but also' at 1,652 words in the published text; (iv) the concluding section at the Pforzheimer, beginning 'all was dark..." at 979 words in the published text. The story has obvious autobiographical resonances. Its hero, Henry Vernon, is the son of an irascible baronet, Sir Peter, who forbids him marrying his childhood sweetheart, Rosina, the 'Invisible Girl' of the title; just as Shelley's baronet father, Sir Timothy, refused to countenance, or even meet, his daughter-in-law, Mary. He also insisted that the family name be kept out of the press, forcing Mary to publish her work as being 'By the Author of Frankenstein' (as here); even going so far at one point, when her name was mentioned in a review, of cutting off the allowance to her and his grandson.Our manuscript clearly started life as a fair copy, and appears to have been part of the package sent to the Keepsake's publisher in July 1832. One or two revisions appear to have been made while copying out this manuscript for publication, sometimes adding words that were clearly omitted through eye-skip, as for example where the word "changed" has been added in superscript to the passage "which had the once happy Vernon that ever wore sable". Others clearly represent second-thoughts, as the same passage she deletes "wore sable" and writes above "felt his reveries", which in its turn is crossed-out, and the passage continued "clung to the outer trappings of grief"; arriving at the final text as published: "which had changed the once happy Vernon into the most woful mourner that ever clung to the outer trappings of grief" (the printer in his turn correcting "woful" to 'woeful'). More striking is that fact that, in checking through our manuscript, she has throughout changed the name of the heroine from Lucy to Rosina, and that of the wicked sister from Mrs Betterton to Mrs Bainbridge.