John Murray was not one of Shelley's publishers, but he had some correspondence in 1816 with the Great Cham of Albemarle Street. In his first letter he described himself as "a total stranger" and offered Murray the publication of Alastor, of which he had printed 250 copies at his own expense. The offer was declined, and the book was subsequently published by two firms, Baldwin, Craddock & Joy, of Paternoster Row, and Carpenter & Son, of Old Bond Street. In the summer of that year Shelley was in Switzerland with Byron, who requested him to correct and see through the press the third canto of Childe Harold and The Prisoner of Chillon. Shelley brought the MS. of the Childe with him to England, and when he saw Murray he reminded him that he wished to see the proofs. From a later letter it appears that Murray announced the poems without sending the proofs to Shelley, who at once wrote urging him to carry out Byron's request.
The names of the Olliers, Shelley's last publishers, first appear on the title-page of his Hermit of Marlow pamphlet, A Proposal for Putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom, 1817. This tract must have been one of the first publications of Charles and James Ollier to bear their imprint, for they commenced business at 3 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in the year 1817. The Ollier family was of French descent, but they had been settled in the West of England for many years. Charles Ollier, Shelley's correspondent in his negotiations with the firm, was born at Bath in 1788, came up to London and entered a banking house. At an early age he showed a liking for literature, and developed a taste for collecting and reading old books. He subsequently became an author and the friend of authors, among whom was Leigh Hunt, who probably introduced him to Shelley. Ollier and Hunt were both devoted to the theatre and to music. Hunt addressed his verses, "A Thought on Music: suggested by a Private Concert, May 13th, 1815," to Ollier, who published some volumes of Hunt's poetry. One of the earliest of the Olliers' publications was Keats's first volume of Poems, 1817. The book, unhappily, was not well received, and Keats, who attributed its want of success to the neglect of his publishers, took his next volume, Endymion, to another firm. The Olliers published besides Lamb's works in two volumes, 1818, and Ollier's own stories, Altham and His Wife and Inesilla, all of which are mentioned in the letters printed below. Shelley followed up his pamphlet with a more ambitious venture, namely, Laon and Cythna, which he printed at his own expense, and arranged for it to be published jointly by Sherwood, Neeby, & Jones, and the Olliers. Before the book was published, but after some copies had been sent out, Ollier discovered in the poem certain passages which he regarded as too frank for circulation, at least by his hands. Shelley agreed, though not without some vigorous protests, to tone down the offending expressions, and the book was issued, with the names of the Olliers alone, as The Revolt of Islam. The correspondence relating to this and other matters has been published, but the following letters to Ollier have not, so far as I am aware, been printed, except portions of the first and last. Ollier apparently kept all the letters that he received from Shelley, but when Mrs. Shelley asked for the use of them, he declined on the score that they were valuable to him and he had been offered no money.
To conclude these remarks on Ollier, it may be mentioned that he also published for Shelley The Cenci, second edition (1821), Rosalind and Helen (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820), Epipsychidion (1821), and Hellas (1822). He also issued a publication called Olliers' Literary Miscellany (1820), to which Peacock contributed an essay on Poetry. This essay prompted Shelley to write as a reply his eloquent Defence of Poetry, which was intended for a later issue, but the first was the only number issued. The Olliers abandoned publishing in 1822, the year of Shelley's death. Their want of success was attributed to a lack of business capacity on the part of the partners and insufficient capital.
To CHARLES OLLIER.
[Great Marlow],
March 14, 1817.
Dear Sir,—Be so kind as to let the Books I ordered (so far as you have completed them) to be sent together with my prints immediately—by the Marlow Coach.
Mr. Hunt has, I believe, commissioned you to get me a proof impression of a print done from a drawing by Harlowe of Lord Byron: I said that it should be framed in oak, but I have changed my mind and wish it to be finished in black.
How does the pamphlet sell?
Dear sir, yours very truly,
P. B. Shelley.
Send in addition Mawe's Gardening Calendar.