Queen Mab was first published in a limited edition of 250 copies intended for individuals chosen by Shelley.
It is a youthful poem of political protest which attacks the main institutions of society by means of which the people are oppressed: law, marriage, war, commerce, established religion, the fraudulent rhetoric of power and privilege.
It is accompanied by long notes which develop further its radical philosophy. For example, "There is no real wealth but the labour of man", is the note which exposes the "wordy eloquence" of statesmen who "boast/Of wealth!" in Canto V.
As the radical working class movement developed in the 1820's Queen Mab became a popular classic.