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Creator
Guiccioli, Teresa, contessa di, 1800-1873
Call number
Pforz MS
Physical description
267 items
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Teresa Guiccioli manuscript material, Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, The New York Public Library
Repository
Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Access to materials
Restricted access. Request an in-person research appointment.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

The Teresa Guiccioli manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. The writings consist of a four-part autobiographical work; five notebooks recording her thoughts, activities, and accounts of Lord Byron's life; and thirty-three books from Guiccioli's personal library with her annotations. The bulk of the correspondence is dated between 1820 and 1822. Correspondents include Lady Blessington, the Irish-born writer and literary hostess; Lord Byron, the English poet (her lover); Victor Hugo, the French writer; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the English novelist; and over a dozen others. There are also four pieces of correspondence by others in Guiccioli's hand.

Biographical/historical information

Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, Italian noblewoman and writer. She was the last of Lord Byron's Italian mistresses.

Scope and arrangement

Administrative information

Custodial history

This guide lists and describes the manuscript materials held by the Pforzheimer Collection that were created by Teresa Guiccioli. These materials have been acquired throughout the history of the Collection and are kept onsite at the New York Public Library.

The first Pforzheimer acquisition of Teresa Guiccioli manuscripts was at the 1919 sale of the autograph collection of Alfred Morrison, where Carl H. Pforzheimer bought the six-album collection known as the Blessington Papers. Chiefly consisting of letters to the Irish writer and literary hostess Lady Blessington, the Blessington Papers include over 30 autograph Guiccioli letters from the 1830s and 40s. The vast majority of the Guiccioli manuscripts arrived five decades later under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Library. Throughout the 1970s the Collection acquired, in a few separate purchases, the last privately-owned portion of papers which had passed by inheritance from Guiccioli to her great-nephew, Count Carlo Gamba. In addition to approximately 150 letters between Guiccioli and Lord Byron, these acquisitions included materials concerning Byron's time in Italy and Guiccioli's relationships with other members of Byron's circle (including Percy and Mary Shelley).

Since the Collection's move to the New York Public Library in 1986, only a handful of Teresa Guiccioli manuscripts have been acquired. Because the Pforzheimer Collection collects actively, more Guiccioli materials may be accessioned in the future as they become available for purchase.

Processing information

Finding aid created from an initial inventory done prior to 2019 and uploaded to ASpace by Timothy Gress, March 2023.

Related Material

In addition to manuscript material created by Teresa Guiccioli, the Pforzheimer Collection holds manuscripts which relate to her. These include letters written by Guiccioli's relatives, notably including her brother, Count Pietro Gamba, and also incoming correspondence addressed to her. The Collection holds a copy of the literary annual The Keepsake for 1839 which contains an engraved portrait of Guccioli as a frontispiece.

Note

Letters from Teresa Guiccioli to Lady Blessington and Richard Robert Madden have previously been published in series 2, volume 6 of Alfred Morrison's catalog series (1883-97). Many other items, including most of the correspondence between Guiccioli and Lord Byron, have been published in Shelley and his Circle, 1773-1822, a multi-volume publication that presents selected manuscripts from the Pforzheimer Collection. Shelley and his Circle also provides extensive descriptions of the manuscripts, along with commentary, textual analysis, and some facsimile reproductions. All such items are noted with their corresponding reference citation.

Using the collection

Location

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Third Floor, Room 319

Access to materials

Restricted access. Request an in-person research appointment.