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Items Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley

Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley

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Library division & collection with this item:

LIBRARY DIVISION
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle

  • Alphabet discs
  • The spot where the body of Shelley was burned
  • Sketchbook containing views recording a tour in Switzerland and France
  • Anne Wagner album
  • Lord Byron, as he appeared after his daily ride at Pisa & Genoa
  • Julia Conyers album
  • Watercolor portrait of Lord Byron
  • Conundrum fan
  • Ettore
  • Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
  • Lives of the necromancers (with tipped in autograph letter signed to Thomas Northmore, 3 January [1803])
  • Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet
  • Frankenstein: or, The modern Prometheus; to which is added vol. 1 of F. Schiller's The Ghost-Seer
  • Lady Anne Hamilton commonplace book of poetry
  • Elisa, ossia, È una disgrazia l'esser donna ...
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Title
Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Names
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)
Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1822-08-14
Place: Viareggio, Italy
Library locations
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Shelf locator: *Pforz
Topics
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822
Genres
Objects
Skulls
skulls (skeleton components)
Specimens
Notes
Content: 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."
Biographical/historical: 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 ..."
Ownership: 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).
Acquisition: Quaritch London Meynell-Sowerby Sale (Sotheby's 26-27 Oct 1959, part of lot 314)
Exhibitions: NYPL Exhibition ID ML 18.X4033: Digitized in relation to the exhibition "It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200," but not an exhibited item. The exhibition was a collaboration between The Morgan Library & Museum and The New York Public Library: https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/frankenstein
Physical Description
Extent: 2 larger and ca. 30 smaller fragments
Human bone; in matting 15.4 x 20.4; window 6 x 9.3 cm
Type of Resource
Three dimensional object
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 700289061
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b18802746
Photo Order: 52491
NYPL Exhibition ID: ML 18.X4033
NYPL Exhibition ID: 20.01.WW76
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 28c768c0-98c5-0131-d23b-58d385a7bbd0
Rights Statement
The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, "From The New York Public Library," and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.

Item timeline of events

  • 1792: Creator Born
  • 1822: Created
  • 1881: Creator Died
  • 2016: Digitized
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library. "Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1822. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/579bab40-98c5-0131-01ad-58d385a7bbd0

Chicago/Turabian Format

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library. "Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/579bab40-98c5-0131-01ad-58d385a7bbd0

APA Format

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library. (1822). Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/579bab40-98c5-0131-01ad-58d385a7bbd0

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/579bab40-98c5-0131-01ad-58d385a7bbd0 | title= (three dimensional object) Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley, (1822)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=April 18, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Fragments of the skull of Percy Bysshe Shelley