Research Catalog

Title

Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley [realia].

Publication

[Viareggio, Italy, 1822]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822.
• Trelawny, Edward John, 1792-1881
• Taylor, Emma, 1841 or 1842-
• Moore, Augustus M.
• Meynell, Wilfrid, 1852-1948

Description

2 larger and ca. 30 smaller fragments

Subjects

• Skull (skeleton component)
• Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822 > Relics > Specimens

Genre/Form

Skull (skeleton component)

Note

• Thin pieces of skull, browned with age. With a manuscript attestation (S'ANA 0269a-b) in the hand of Augustus M. Moore, a younger brother of the writer George Moore. The text is also copied on an envelope that once contained it (S'ANA 0269b); (S'ANA 0269a) reads in full, "A piece of Shelley's scull / given me by Miss / Taylor, E. J. Trelawny's / niece, at 7 Pelham / Crescent, London on / August 9th 1879 & given / by me to my friend / Wilfrid Meynell on August / 11th 1879 as the greatest / token of our friendship. / Augustus M. Moore / 28 Clarge's St / London."

Access (note)

• Restricted access;

Biography (note)

• In his Recollections of the last days of Shelley and Byron (1858), E. J. Trelawny explains that during the disinterment of Shelley's body near Viareggio, the "iron [of the mattock] had struck a skull ...." He claims that Lord Byron desired Shelley's skull for himself, but Trelawny, recalling that Byron had once used a skull as a drinking-cup, "was determined Shelley's should not be so profaned." During the cremation, Trelawny reports that Shelley's corpse fell over, and the "frontal bone of the skull, where it had been struck with the mattock, fell off ..."

Provenance (note)

• Edward John Trelawny (1822); Emma Taylor; Augustus M. Moore (9 Aug 1879); Wilfred Meynell (11 Aug 1879); Quaritch London Meynell-Sowerby Sale (Sotheby's 26-27 Oct 1959, part of lot 314).

Call Number

*Pforz

OCLC

700289061

Title

Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley [realia].

Imprint

[Viareggio, Italy, 1822]

Physical Medium

human bone; in matting 15.4 x 20.4; window 6 x 9.3 cm

Local Note

Filed in SC manuscript file following Percy Bysshe Shelley manuscripts.

Access

Restricted access; Pforzheimer Collection; Permit must be requested at the division indicated.

Biography

In his Recollections of the last days of Shelley and Byron (1858), E. J. Trelawny explains that during the disinterment of Shelley's body near Viareggio, the "iron [of the mattock] had struck a skull ...." He claims that Lord Byron desired Shelley's skull for himself, but Trelawny, recalling that Byron had once used a skull as a drinking-cup, "was determined Shelley's should not be so profaned." During the cremation, Trelawny reports that Shelley's corpse fell over, and the "frontal bone of the skull, where it had been struck with the mattock, fell off ..."

Provenance

Edward John Trelawny (1822); Emma Taylor; Augustus M. Moore (9 Aug 1879); Wilfred Meynell (11 Aug 1879); Quaritch London Meynell-Sowerby Sale (Sotheby's 26-27 Oct 1959, part of lot 314).

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822.

Trelawny, Edward John, 1792-1881, former owner.

Taylor, Emma, 1841 or 1842- former owner.

Moore, Augustus M., former owner.

Meynell, Wilfrid, 1852-1948, former owner.

Research Call Number

*Pforz