SHELLEY, Percy Pysshe (1792-1822). Autograph verse-letter to Edward Fergus Graham [Field Place], [franked Horsham, 7 June 1811] , beginning: 'Dear dear dear dear dear Graham! When back from Cuckfield here I came I found your penitential letter But sackcloth cannot now prevail Nor even ashes aught avail.' 40 lines of verse (38 on recto and 2 on verso) and 6-line postcript in prose, one page, folio , address panel ' Mr Graham 18 Sackville Street Piccadilly London', franking signature of T[imothy] Shelley, postmark (small tears affecting two words of text, repaired, folds strengthened, soiled). Edward Fergus Graham (1778-1852) is a prominent figure in Shelley's early correspondence. It is possible that his father was employed by the Shelley family, certainly the young Graham was brought up at Field Place, the Shelley family house in Sussex, and trained as a music-master. Shelley and Graham became friends in the summer of 1810. By that time Graham was living in London and Shelley used Graham's address for the mischievous correspondence he conducted under various pseudonyms with bishops, heads of Oxford colleges and others on the subject of atheism. It was from Graham's house that Shelley wrote to his father on 29 March 1811 to announce his expulsion from Oxford. Shelley also used Graham as a kind of literary agent. By the summer of 1811 Graham had fallen out of favour. There are no letters from Shelley to Graham later that July listed in Jones. Graham apparently made an offer of marriage to Shelley's sister, Elizabeth, and there is a suggestion, but no independant evidence, that he had an adulterous relationship with Shelley's mother. When Shelley composed the verse-letter he had just returned to Field Place from Cuckfield where he had been staying with an uncle. There is no clue about the contents of the 'penitential letter' written by Graham, but it would appear that he was in some trouble with Shelley's father. 'For the more you repent the more tears he demands, The more you submit the more he commands The more sighs that you breathe, the joys to divine The more he desires you to groan, gnash and whine.' Shelley includes one reference to his parent's relationship: 'He wishes to drive from her own native hive the wife who so merrily laughs at each odd whim!' The postcript refers to [Joseph Gibbons] Merle who was employed in Ackermann's art and music shop and was for a brief period a friend of Shelley. Another autograph verse-letter by Shelley to Graham (Jones no.72, also unsigned, and dating from ?14 May 1811) is in the Berg Collection, New York Public Library. The present manuscript was first published by Neville Rogers, Keats -- Shelley Memorial Bulletin , no.XXIV, 1973, pp.20-24. See also Frederick L. Jones, The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley , 1964.
SHELLEY, Percy Pysshe (1792-1822). Autograph verse-letter to Edward Fergus Graham [Field Place], [franked Horsham, 7 June 1811] , beginning: 'Dear dear dear dear dear Graham! When back from Cuckfield here I came I found your penitential letter But sackcloth cannot now prevail Nor even ashes aught avail.' 40 lines of verse (38 on recto and 2 on verso) and 6-line postcript in prose, one page, folio , address panel ' Mr Graham 18 Sackville Street Piccadilly London', franking signature of T[imothy] Shelley, postmark (small tears affecting two words of text, repaired, folds strengthened, soiled). Edward Fergus Graham (1778-1852) is a prominent figure in Shelley's early correspondence. It is possible that his father was employed by the Shelley family, certainly the young Graham was brought up at Field Place, the Shelley family house in Sussex, and trained as a music-master. Shelley and Graham became friends in the summer of 1810. By that time Graham was living in London and Shelley used Graham's address for the mischievous correspondence he conducted under various pseudonyms with bishops, heads of Oxford colleges and others on the subject of atheism. It was from Graham's house that Shelley wrote to his father on 29 March 1811 to announce his expulsion from Oxford. Shelley also used Graham as a kind of literary agent. By the summer of 1811 Graham had fallen out of favour. There are no letters from Shelley to Graham later that July listed in Jones. Graham apparently made an offer of marriage to Shelley's sister, Elizabeth, and there is a suggestion, but no independant evidence, that he had an adulterous relationship with Shelley's mother. When Shelley composed the verse-letter he had just returned to Field Place from Cuckfield where he had been staying with an uncle. There is no clue about the contents of the 'penitential letter' written by Graham, but it would appear that he was in some trouble with Shelley's father. 'For the more you repent the more tears he demands, The more you submit the more he commands The more sighs that you breathe, the joys to divine The more he desires you to groan, gnash and whine.' Shelley includes one reference to his parent's relationship: 'He wishes to drive from her own native hive the wife who so merrily laughs at each odd whim!' The postcript refers to [Joseph Gibbons] Merle who was employed in Ackermann's art and music shop and was for a brief period a friend of Shelley. Another autograph verse-letter by Shelley to Graham (Jones no.72, also unsigned, and dating from ?14 May 1811) is in the Berg Collection, New York Public Library. The present manuscript was first published by Neville Rogers, Keats -- Shelley Memorial Bulletin , no.XXIV, 1973, pp.20-24. See also Frederick L. Jones, The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley , 1964.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
