The Timothy Shelley manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of legal documents and correspondence. The legal documents include a holograph draft lease of Castle Goring and autograph signatures on indenture agreements. The bulk of the correspondence is dated between 1811 and 1823. Correspondents include: Thomas Jefferson Hogg, friend of P. B. Shelley; Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (his son); William Whitton, his lawyer; and a few others.
Sir Timothy Shelley, second baronet of Castle Goring, father of Percy Bysshe Shelley, the English poet.
This guide considers the Timothy Shelley manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection in two series: Series I, Legal documents; and Series II, Correspondence. Items treated in Shelley and his Circle are noted with reference.
This guide lists and describes the manuscript materials held by the Pforzheimer Collection that were created by Timothy Shelley. These items have been acquired throughout the history of the Collection and are kept at the New York Public Library.
The first Timothy Shelley manuscripts added to the collection were a batch of letters to his lawyer, William Whitton, purchased through Maggs Bros. in 1922. By the time of the death of Carl H. Pforzheimer I in 1957, seventeen Timothy Shelley manuscripts had been acquired.
Over the next few decades, under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation, the Collection acquired three Timothy Shelley manuscripts. Since the Collection's move to the New York Public Library in 1986, only one Timothy Shelley manuscript has been accessioned: the earliest one, a letter dated 26 Nov 1797, to Lt. Col. Lee.
Processed by Charles Carter and Timothy Gress, 2022.
In addition to manuscripts by Timothy Shelley, the Pforzheimer Collection also holds manuscript letters addressed to Timothy Shelley, as well as Sir Timothy's personal copy of The Book of Common Prayer, which contains some pencil markings. Also held are a number of manuscript legal documents directly relating to Sir Timothy, but not carrying his autograph.