IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS ITALIAN 1
Held at: University College London
Title: Polidori Letter
Date(s): 1841
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume containing 6 written leaves + 1 blank
Name of creator(s): Polidori | Gaetano | 1764-1853 | Italian scholar
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Gaetano Polidori: born, 1764; secretary to the Italian dramatist and poet Alfieri; teacher of Italian in London; author of educational works; father of the physician and associate of Byron, John William Polidori, and of Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, who by her marriage to Gabriele Rossetti became the mother of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Rossetti; died, 1853. Publications include his translation of Milton, Traduzione delle Opere poetiche di Giovanni Milton (London, 1840). François-Auguste-René, Vicomte de Chateaubriand: born at Saint-Malo, France, 1768; author and diplomat; among the first French Romantic writers, and a prominent and influential literary figure in early 19th-century France; died in Paris, 1848.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Manuscript, dated 1841, comprising a rough draft copy of a letter of G Polidori, in his own hand, to Viscount de Chateaubriand, announcing the despatch of Polidori's translation of Milton's Paradise Lost, followed by Polidori's copy of Chateaubriand's reply. Bound with an offprint, Louis Brandin's 'Lettres Inédités de Gaetano Polidori et de Chateaubriand', Modern Language Review, vol xi, no 2, Apr 1916.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: Italian and French
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Paper manuscript bound in half vellum and marble boards. One hand.
Finding aids:
Dorothy K Coveney, A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London (London, 1935); handlist at University College London Special Collections.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Presented by James Morris.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Louis Brandin's 'Lettres Inédités de Gaetano Polidori et de Chateaubriand', Modern Language Review, vol xi, no 2, Apr 1916, gives the text of the two letters in full.
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Sources: Dictionary of National Biography entries for John William Polidori and the Rossettis; British Library OPAC. Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 2001