Loading...
Creator
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850
Call number
Pforz Ms; MssCol 23712
Physical description
16 items
Language
English
Preferred Citation
William Wordsworth 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.

William Wordsworth was an English poet. The collection consists primarily of correspondence dating between 1804 and 1846. It also includes one verse satire and one presentation inscription.

Biographical/historical information

William Wordsworth, English poet. Best known for Lyrical Ballads (1798), a collection of early Romantic poetry co-written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and The Prelude, a long autobiographical work published shortly after his death in 1850. Wordsworth was made Poet Laureate in 1843.

Scope and arrangement

The William Wordsworth manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. The writings comprise one holograph verse satire and one presentation inscription. The fifteen pieces of correspondence date between 1804 and 1846 and deal with Wordsworth's personal life and his writing, particularly the 1836 edition of his Poetical Works and Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years (1842). The letter to political reformer and lecturer John Thelwall discusses Wordsworth's early writings and the relationship between his work and that of contemporary poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and Robert Southey. Other correspondents include Abraham Hayward, essayist and translator; Edward Moxon, publisher and poet; Robert Southey, poet; and Thomas Noon Talfourd, writer, judge, and politician.

The William Wordsworth manuscript material is arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Custodial history

Carl H. Pforzheimer began collecting William Wordsworth manuscripts in November 1918 at the auction of bookseller Robert H. Dodd's stock. He acquired eleven additional manuscripts in 1920. Ten of these came from the estate of bookseller George D. Smith and the eleventh from the auction of bibliographer and forger Harry Buxton Forman's library. One letter was acquired at a 1977 Sotheby's auction under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation. Since the Pforzheimer Collection's 1986 move to the New York Public Library, its Wordsworth manuscript holdings have grown slightly, most recently in 2000 with the purchase of the letter to Robert Southey. Because the Pforzheimer Collection collects actively, its holdings may grow in the future as items become available.

Processing information

Finding aid created and imported into ArchivesSpace by Timothy Gress in June 2025 using an earlier description created by Charles Carter.

Related Material

The Pforzheimer Collections holds a representative collection of Wordsworth's published work and a small collection of letters by members of the Wordsworth family. The Library's Berg Collection holds a larger collection of Wordsworth manuscripts. Some Wordsworth manuscripts are also held by the Manuscripts and Archives Division. Other collections of Wordsworth's published work can be found in the Berg Collection and in the Rare Book Division.

Note

Items listed in Series II: Correspondence which have been published in The Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth edited by Ernest De Selincourt, Chester L. Shaver, Mary Moorman, and Alan G. Hill (Second Revised Edition. Oxford University Press, 1967-1988; 7 volumes) are listed with reference.The [?1 January 1822] letter from Wordsworth to Robert Southey containing a verse satire has also been published, with extensive commentary, in volume XII of Shelley and his Circle edited by Doucet Devin Fischer and Daniel Dibbern (Harvard University Press, 2024) and is listed with reference.

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.