Robert Southey, correspondence, literary manuscripts and printed works
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Robert Southey, correspondence, literary manuscripts and printed works
Classmark: BC MS 19c Southey
Creator(s): Southey, Robert (1774-1843)()
Date(s): c.1797-1839
Language: English
Size and medium: 10 vols and 1 box held on part of 1 shelf, manuscript, typescript and printed
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/7438
Collection group(s): English Literature
Description
Comprises:
(1) A collection of autograph letters written by Robert Southey to John May and others, together with manuscript poems and notes by Robert Southey, and autograph letters to John May from Thomas Arnold of Rugby, John Keble and Francis Walpole, 1797-1835, 1 vol.;
(2) 2 vols of poetical manuscripts concerning the Lake District held in cases and including watercolour paintings by Robert Southey, ca. 1830;
(3) 1 album of verses by Robert Southey, including family signatures, ca. 1831;
(4) Robert Southey's 'Letters from England, by Dom Manuel Alvarez Espriella, translated from the Spanish', 1807, 3 vols, the author's own interleaved copy with additional notes in his autograph;
(5) Robert Southey's 'The life of Nelson', new edition, London, John Murray, 1824, 2 vols;
(6) Miscellaneous loose letters and a set of commonplace notes, including Robert Southey's autograph manuscript poems for Caroline Bowles written before their marriage on 23 April 1839, and his autograph letters to Longman, Hurst & Co., S.C. Hall, and Rev. William Jackson, dated 13 September 1825, 4 June 1829, and 19 January 1832 respectively, all held in 1 box.
Further material added in June 2016 - To (6): 'All for love & The Pilgrim of Compostella', written for Caroline Bowles, 4 June 1829.
(7) Autograph manuscript review of James Forbes's 'Oriental Memoirs', 1813, 41pp with corrections and additions [held in box with (6)].
Further material added in 2017 - To (6) an autograph letter to an unnamed correspondent concerning Coleridge. Dated 14 Nov 1825. Also a scrap of purple paper on which is written 'Robert Southey, to Alexander Ballantyne Esq'; and a manuscript copy of a poem titled 'A Bravura Song'.
(1) is bound in dark green half leather and embossed on the spine in gilt lettering thus: ROBERT SOUTHEY LETTERS TO JOHN MAY ETC.- 1797-1835. Manuscript;
(2) are finely bound in brown half leather cases embossed on their spines in gilt lettering thus: ROBERT SOUTHEY POETICAL MANUSCRIPT(S). The volumes inside are also well bound in ivory full leather with ROBERT SOUTHEY embossed on the outside front covers within a dark green rectangular piece of leather decorated around the edges;
(3) is finely bound in leather with foliated patterns embossed on both covers and the spine, which also bears the gilt lettering: ALBUM VERSES. R.S.;
(4) are bound in brown leather, which is party damaged, tooled, and embossed with gilt lettering thus: ESPRIELLA'S LETTERS and the respective volume numbers in Roman numerals. There is marbling on the edges of the pages and on the inside covers and flyleaves;
(5) are finely bound in red leather embossed with gold decorations and gilt lettering thus: SOUTHEY'S LIFE OF NELSON and the respective volume numbers in Roman numerals. All sides of the pages are gilt-edged
(7) bound in red leather with gold decorations and gilt lettering thus: REVIEW OF FORBES'S ORIENTAL MEMOUR.
Biography or history
Robert Southey (1774-1843), poet and man of letters, was expelled from Westminster School for a protest against flogging, but proceeded in 1792 to Balliol College, Oxford, where he pursued his studies without interference and began 'Joan of Arc'. He was visited there by Coleridge and converted by him to unitarianism and pantisocracy. He was twice married, first to Edith Fricker, who died in 1837, then in 1839 to Caroline Bowles. After visiting Spain and Portugal he settled at Keswick, where he remained and wrote extensively. He became poet laureate in 1813 and was friendly with Wordsworth. For a full assessment of his life and work see the 'Dictionary of National Biography'.
Provenance
Autograph letter dated 14 Nov 1825 acquired via Quaritch/Phillips, March 1996. Purple scrap of paper containing Southey's handwriting acquired on 11 Dec 1997 [lot 194].
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.