Overview
Diaries, poems, and other papers of author and friend of Samuel Johnson.
Dates
- Creation: 1765-1820
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English, French, and Italian.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
1.6 linear feet (1 box and 9 volumes)This collection consists primarily of Hester Lynch Piozzi's literary manuscripts and diaries. Of particular significance are two diaries: the Children's Book covering 1766-1778, item (3), and a diary of a 1774 trip to Wales with Samuel Johnson, item (32); and a quasi-diary covering 1809-1820 titled A New Common Place Book, item (18). The collection also includes two volumes of Piozzi's manuscript poetry, items (4) and (5); two drafts of her unpublished book Lyford Redivivus, item (16); and a large portion of the manuscript of Retrospection, item (24).
Biographical / Historical
Hester Lynch Salusbury was born in Wales in 1741, and in 1763 married wealthy London brewer Henry Thrale (1728-1781). Only four of their twelve children survived to adulthood: Hester Maria Elphinstone, Viscountess Keith (1764-1857); Susanna Arabella Thrale (1770-1858); Sophia Thrale Hoare (1771-1824); and Cecilia Thrale Mostyn (1777-1857). The Thrales divided their time between two London residences: at the brewery compound in Southwark, and at a larger country house at Streatham Park. After the Thrales were introduced to Samuel Johnson in 1765, Streatham Park became the center of an important coterie of literary, artistic, and political figures.
Henry Thrale died in 1781. In 1784, Hester married Gabriele Mario Piozzi (1740-1809), an Italian musician. The marriage was widely viewed as scandalous in London society, and terminated Hester's long friendship with Johnson. The Piozzis embarked on a tour of Europe for two and a half years, leaving her four daughters dispersed in England under the supervision of Henry Thrale's executors.
The Piozzis built a country house at Brynbella in Wales, and settled there as their primary residence from 1794 to 1809. Piozzi's young nephew John Salusbury Piozzi came to live with the Piozzis in 1798. Gabriele Mario Piozzi died in 1809, and shortly afterwards John was formally adopted as Hester's primary heir, assuming the name Sir John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury (1793-1858). Hester spent most of her final years in Bath, England.
Hester Lynch Piozzi's publications included Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1786); Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1788), and Retrospection, or, a Review of the Most Important and Striking Events, Characters, Situations, and their Consequences, which the Last Eighteen Hundred Years have Presented to the View of Mankind (1801).
Arrangement
The papers are arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Location
b, Hyde Case 9
Immediate Source of Acquisition
*2003JM-59 (part), *2003JM-94, *2003JM-101-107, *2003JM-145(f). All material from *2003JM-59 unless otherwise noted. Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.
Bibliography
- Balderston, Katherine C., ed., Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1942)
- Broadley, A.M., Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale (London: John Lane, 1910)
- Clifford, James L., Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs. Thrale) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1941)
- Hayward, A., ed., Autobiography, Letters, and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale), 2nd edition (London: Longman et al., 1861)
- Hyde, Mary, The Impossible Friendship: Boswell and Mrs. Thrale (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972)
- Hyde, Mary, The Thrales of Streatham Park (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1977)
- McCarthy, William, Hester Thrale Piozzi: Portrait of a Literary Woman (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985)
- Smith, Margaret M., et al., Index of English Literary Manuscripts, Volume III, Part 4 (London: Mansell Publishing, 1992) IV
Processing Information
Processed by: Rick Stattler
- Title
- Piozzi, Hester Lynch, 1741-1821. Hester Lynch Piozzi manuscripts: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou00264
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
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