Shelley's Ghost

England's Bodleian Library presents a major exhibition, Shelley's Ghost, dedicated to one of the most renowned literary families in Britain: Percy Bysshe Shelley, his wife Mary Shelley, and Mary’s parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Spanning three generations of literary figures, the exhibition charts the history of a family blessed with genius but marred by tragedy.

The Shelley family gave the first two parts of their family archive to the Bodleian in 1893 - 4 and 1946-61, whilst the final part — known as the Abinger papers — was bought by the Library in 2004 through a public appeal. The exhibition will showcase letters, literary manuscripts, rare printed books and pamphlets, portraits and relics.

Star items include Shelley’s own notebooks, a letter of John Keats, William Godwin’s diary and the original manuscripts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The exhibition will also feature treasures lent by the Pforzheimer Collection of the New York Public Library, many of which have never been on public display in the United Kingdom.

Explore exhibition themes, biographies, the complete Frankenstein notebooks, the exhibition video, an interactive family tree and the exhibition floorplan.

Here are some Mary Wollstonecraft exhibits:

There's even a Bodelian competition to enter:

Make your own video and enter our competition

"Shelley’s Ghost tells the story of how the descendents of one of our greatest literary families worked hard to shape their posthumous reputations and widen appreciation of their work. Why do the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft still appeal to us today? We are running this video competition to find out.

"To enter, simply make a short video of yourself performing a text by one of our four featured authors and, importantly, tell us why you chose the author or the work that you did. Choose your own text or here are some suggestions.

"Our favourite video will win a copy of the exhibition book, Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family, signed by the authors Stephen Hebron and Elizabeth C. Denlinger."

If you plan to go to Oxford, England, to see the exhibit before it ends on March 27th, it's possible to walk where Shelley walked in Oxford using the Library's trail as a guide. The trail starts at the Bodleian Library so if you plan to visit the exhibition in person simply print a copy of this page and bring it along.

Culture and Arts, Literature and Poetry, History, Senior Women Web, Sightings

Shelley's Ghost

Make your own video and enter our competition

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