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Twenty-one manuscript letters to Lord Byron from Venetian women

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Collection Data

Description
Byron boasted of having had many Italian lovers before meeting the Countess Guiccioli, his "last attachment," in April of 1818. After his death, Guiccioli saved a collection of letters to him from various Venetian woman in a folder which she marked, "Curiosità -- e lettere gal[anti] che hanno preceduto la mia cojnoscenza." For a detailed account of these letters, including conjecture as to the identity of some of the "unknown" correspondents, see Doucet Devin Fischer's "Countesses and Cobblers' Wives: Byron's Venetian Mistresses" in Shelley and his Circle vol. VII, p. 163-214. · From an unidentified woman : 8 autograph letters : ?Jan - Mar 1818 : (B'ANA 0261-0268) : in Italian; one letter bearing the signature of "La vostra ammiratrice." Published with translations in Shelley and his Circle as SC 595-602; vol. VII, p. 298-304.
Names
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 (Addressee)
Guiccioli, Teresa, contessa di, 1800-1873 (Annotator)
Guiccioli, Teresa, contessa di, 1800-1873 (Former owner)
Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1817 - 1819 (Approximate)
Library locations
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Shelf locator: Pforz Ms
Topics
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 -- Relations with women
Genres
Correspondence
Notes
Biographical/historical: Byron boasted of having had many Italian lovers before meeting the Countess Guiccioli, his "last attachment," in April of 1818. After his death, Guiccioli saved a collection of letters to him from various Venetian woman in a folder which she marked, "Curiosità -- e lettere gal[anti] che hanno preceduto la mia cojnoscenza." For a detailed account of these letters, including conjecture as to the identity of some of the "unknown" correspondents, see Doucet Devin Fischer's "Countesses and Cobblers' Wives: Byron's Venetian Mistresses" in Shelley and his Circle vol. VII, p. 163-214.
Content: · From an unidentified woman : 8 autograph letters : ?Jan - Mar 1818 : (B'ANA 0261-0268) : in Italian; one letter bearing the signature of "La vostra ammiratrice." Published with translations in Shelley and his Circle as SC 595-602; vol. VII, p. 298-304. · From an unidentified woman : 2 autograph letters signed : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1819 : (B'ANA 0269-0270) : in Italian; signed "Amica" and "Tua Buon'Amica." Published with translations in Shelley and his Circle as SC 586-587; vol. VII, p. 223-226. Along with the file folder originally enclosing all 21 letters, marked in the hand of Teresa Guiccioli. · From "Suzana" : 1 autograph letter signed : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1819 : (B'ANA 0271) : in Italian. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 592; vol. VII, p. 230-231. · From Teresa Rizzato : 1 autograph letter signed : 10 Apr 1818 : (B'ANA 0272) : in Italian. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 605; vol. VII, p. 308-309. · From an unidentified woman : 1 autograph letter : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1819 : (B'ANA 0273) : in Italian; informing him that her mother had planned to come to Venice to arrange some matter. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 591; vol. VII, p. 230. · From "Giulia" : 2 autograph letters signed : 22 Sep 1818 - 26 Jan 1819 : (B'ANA 0274-0275) : in Italian. Published with translations in Shelley and his Circle as SC 624 & 631; vol. VII, p. 348f, 363f. · From an unidentified woman : 1 autograph letter : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1819 : (B'ANA 0276) : in Italian; upon having seen Byron at the theater of San Bendetto and becoming smitten with him. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 588; vol. VII, p. 226-227. · From an unidentified woman : 1 autograph letter : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1819 : (B'ANA 0277) : in Italian; taking the liberty to initiate relations with him despite her gender; offering her service. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 589; vol. VII, p. 227-228. · From Caterina Terrazana : 1 autograph letter signed : 7 Dec 1818 : (B'ANA 0278) : in Italian; requesting they meet, as her husband's business has provided her the opportunity to meet Byron in the night. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 629, vol. VII, p. 357-359. · From Eleanora de Bezzi : 2 autograph letters signed : 25-28 Oct 1818 : (B'ANA 0279-0280) : in Italian; the first declaring herself at his commands, the second anxiously inquiring about the state of his cold. Published with translation in Shelley and his Circle as SC 626-627, vol. VII, p. 352-355. In a Jan 1819 letter to Hobhouse and Kinnaird, Byron noted that de Bezzi was "the king of Naples' Gioaschino's mistress -- at least one of them.". · From an unidentified woman : 1 autograph letter signed : ?Summer 1817 - Apr 1818 : (B'ANA 0281) : in Italian; an anonymous note requesting that he meet her in the back room of the Café San Fantin at ten o'clock, lest she be forced to commit some indiscretion.
Funding: Digitized through a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.
Physical Description
Extent: 21 items
Type of Resource
Text
Identifiers
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b17981838
MSS Unit ID: 23715
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): eff2f9b0-e3bd-0133-e418-00505686d14e
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