The Leigh Hunt manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. The writings include: a holograph draft of his poem, "Jenny Kiss'd Me"; a holograph fragment of his preface to Shelley's Mask of Anarchy; and his address book circa the mid-1850s. The bulk of the correspondence is dated between 1817 and 1826 and discusses his experiences in Italy, including the death of Shelley; family matters; and publishing business. Correspondents include: the Irish poet William Allingham; the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham; the writer and painter William Hazlitt; the writers Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley; and over seventy others.
Leigh Hunt, English poet, journalist, and literary critic.
This guide considers the Leigh Hunt manuscript material in three series: Series I, Writings, listed chronologically by date of creation, Series II, Correspondence, listed alphabetically and chronologically, by recipient, and Series III, presentation inscriptions listed chronologically.
The first Leigh Hunt manuscripts, twenty letters to his sister-in-law, the botanist and writer Bessie Kent, were acquired by Carl H. Pforzheimer from Sotheby's on July 24, 1922. The following September Pforzheimer added a trove of Hunt letters, along with a holograph fragment of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Laon and Cythna" bearing Hunt's emotional, autograph apostrophe to his "dead friend," from the London bookseller Walter Thomas Spencer. Pforzheimer added an additional eight letters from Hunt to the Victorian writer G. H. Lewes to his growing cache in June of 1923 and continued to make regular purchases until his death in 1957. Acquisitions continued under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation until the Collection came to the New York Public Library in 1986. The Pforzheimer Collection continues to actively acquire Leigh Hunt manuscripts. This finding aid will be updated as new acquisitions are made.
Finding aid created by Charles Cuykendall Carter and Clare O. Needham, 2013-2019. Finding aid revised, expanded, and imported to ASpace by Timothy Gress, 2022.
In addition to manuscript material created by Leigh Hunt, the Pforzheimer Collection holds a sizeable sub-collection of "Huntana," manuscripts that relate to Hunt. These mostly include letters written by other Hunt family members, and incoming correspondence addressed to Hunt. Many Hunt-related printed materials are also available, including copies of first and further editions of nearly all of Leigh Hunt's published works. Most major biographical and bibliographical works on Hunt are held by the Collection, as are a handful of 19th and early 20th century works of Hunt criticism.
Among the Collection's visual materials relating to Hunt is the satirical etching by Samuel de Wilde, "New Roads to the Temple of Fortune," which features a scathing caricature of Hunt.
A small but growing collection of early printed portraits of Hunt is also held, including engravings by Freeman after Jackson; A. Croquis; and J. C. Armytage after Joseph Severn. The bust of Shelley visible through the glass door of the Pforzheimer Collection reading room was sculpted by Hunt's wife, Marianne.
Additional Leigh Hunt manuscript material can be found in the following divisions of the New York Public Library: The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature; The Rare Book Division; and The Manuscripts and Archives Division.