Scope and arrangement
The Thomas Love Peacock manuscript material is arranged in two series:
The Thomas Love Peacock manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. Among the writings are included: holograph working and fair copies of his collection of poetry titled, "Paper Money Lyrics"; a holograph epitaph for his daughter, Mary Ellen Meredith; and a collection of holograph recipes. The bulk of the correspondence is dated between 1818 and 1847. Correspondents include: John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton, politician; Thomas Jefferson Hogg, barrister and friend of Shelley; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, writer; and over a dozen others.
Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866), English satirical novelist and poet.
The Thomas Love Peacock manuscript material is arranged in two series:
This guide lists and describes the manuscript materials held by the Pforzheimer Collection that were created by Thomas Love Peacock. These materials have been acquired throughout the history of the Collection, and are kept on-site at the New York Public Library.
The first Peacock manuscripts added to the Collection were letters: the letter to Claire Clairmont, acquired in 1920 through an Anderson Galleries auction, and the letter to Timothy Shelley, bought from Rosenbach and Company in 1926. Only a few additional Peacock manuscripts were accessioned until the 1948 acquisition of the Hogg Family Correspondence, which contained the letters from Peacock to Thomas Jefferson Hogg. A significant purchase of Peacock literary manuscripts came in 1949, with the acquisition of the papers belonging to Mrs. K. Hall-Thorpe, Peacock's great-granddaughter. By the 1957 death of Carl Pforzheimer I, the Collection held over sixty manuscripts in Peacock's hand.
Under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation, the Collection more than doubled its holdings in Peacock manuscripts, most notably with the 1980 purchase of over fifty manuscripts from the Arthur Houghton sale at Christie's. Since the Collection's move to The New York Public Library in 1986, only three manuscripts in Peacock's hand have been acquired.
Processed by Clare Needham, Charles Cuykendall Carter, and Timothy Gress, 2022.
In addition to manuscripts by Thomas Love Peacock, the Pforzheimer Collection holds a number of manuscripts relating to him. Consisting mainly of autograph letters addressed to him, these manuscripts carry Peacockana (P'ANA) call numbers, and are cataloged by author.
Also held are first edition copies of most of Peacock's published works; an autotype reproduction of his photograph portrait by Maull & Co.; and a gold locket with a rosebud preserved behind glass, the rosebud being one Byron is said to have sent Peacock, through Shelley, as a goodwill gesture following the publication of Nightmare Abbey, which satirized both Byron and Shelley.
Additional Thomas Love Peacock manuscript material can be found in The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.