LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Apr Books, Manuscripts & Autographs #658  / 

25582

Journal of Edward E. Williams, 238 pages.

Currency:USD Category:Antiques Start Price:1,875.00 USD Estimated At:7,500.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Journal of Edward E. Williams, 238 pages.
<B>Journal of Edward E. Williams,</B></I> 238 pages, contemporary red morocco with gold decoration, marbled endpapers, 8vo (6" x 9.25"), Jerome Kern bookplate on front pastedown. The journal was purchased at the 1929 auction of Jerome Kern's personal property by E. Byrne Hackett of Brick Row Book Shop, San Francisco, California. The catalog description from that sale states "This volume was later used by Mrs. Shelley as a scrapbook and album in which she has written many extracts from Byron and her husband." Subsequent to the purchase by E. Byrne Hackett, research by Shelley, Williams, and Trelawny scholars has determined that these entries were not in Mary Shelley's hand, but were written by Edward Williams, his common-law wife, Jane and Williams' and P. B. Shelley's good friend Edward John Trelawny, who received Williams' possessions after his death.<BR><BR>The pages of the journal have many well executed drawings and a few watercolors by Williams, including one of a bust of Shakespeare at Stratford Church, Malay boats and fishermen, tall ships, a well-dressed gentleman and lady. On the last page is a pencil sketch of sailboat climbing a large wave in a violent storm. Elsewhere in the journal, Williams describes at length Shelley's terrifying prophetic vision of his death. Williams and Shelley drowned sailing back from a weeklong visit with their friend, Leigh Hunt.<BR><BR>Williams writes of his adventures in India while an officer in the 8th Dragoons. There are five pages of extracts from letters, which are believed to be from the "lost letters" of Harriet Shelley to Percy Bysshe.<BR><BR>Of Edward, Mary Shelley wrote to Thomas Love Peacock, author and close friend, "It is not he (Shelley) alone I have lost, though that misery, swallowing up all others, has made me forgetful of all others. My best friend, my dear Edward, who next to Shelley I loved, and whose virtues were worthy of the warmest affection, he too is gone." Mary Shelley later used the journal as a scrapbook. Various flowers, preserved in acetate sleeves, were pressed between the pages.<BR><BR>In 1822, after having been discharged from the British navy, deserted by his wife, and as good as disowned by his father, thirty-two year old Trelawny set off for Italy to make the acquaintance of his hero, Lord Byron. "I have met today the personification of my Corsair," Byron wrote in a letter. "He sleeps with the poem under his pillow, and all his past adventures and present manners aim at this personification." In the months before his death at sea, Shelley and the young poet Trelawny were frequent companions. During Shelley's cremation at Viareggio, Trelawny reached into the flames and snatched Shelley's heart, which was given soon after to Leigh Hunt and then to Mary who kept its ashes in a folded page of <I>Adonais</B></I> in her desk drawer along with other precious relics of their rich, but brief, life together.<BR><BR>Very good, with minor edge and spine rubbing, including top right corner of front cover, with leather darkened from use, small ink stains on front and back boards, corners bumped, and the fifth leaf from the back torn out (not counted in 238 pages). Fine Solandar box in beige and maroon cloth with beige label on spine.<BR><BR>Provenance: Betty Bennett purchased the journal from Mary Cooper Gilliam of Frank Gilliam Rare Books, whose late husband purchased the Brick Row Book Shop from E. Byrne Hackett. <I>From the Betty Bennett Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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