Hadst thou liv'd in days of old and Sonnet to A.G.S. : manuscript poems in the autograph of Richard Woodhouse, undated [1816 or later].

Record ID: 
105082
Accession number: 
MA 215.93
Author: 
Keats, John, 1795-1821.
Credit: 
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1906.
Description: 
1 item (4 p.) ; 22.4 cm
Notes: 

"Hadst thou liv'd in days of old" is preceded by a note in Woodhouse's hand stating that the poem was composed by John Keats for his brother George Keats to send to Mary Frogley as a valentine in 1816, and noting that the present manuscript was copied from that letter. See also Stillinger (1978), p. 547-548.
"Sonnet to A.G.S." [Aubrey George Spencer] was formerly attributed to Keats; Finney and Stillinger (1978, p. 753-754 and 1985, p. 321) suggest that it may have been written by Woodhouse.
Watermark: TEDMONDS / 1811.
Part of a large collection, assembled by Richard Woodhouse, of letters and manuscripts relating to the English poet John Keats. Items in the collection have been described in individual catalog records; see collection-level record for MA 215 for more information.

Summary: 

A manuscript copy of Keats's "Hadst thou liv'd in days of old" in the autograph of Richard Woodhouse, and a manuscript copy of "Sonnet to A.G.S." (first line: Where didst thou find, young bard, thou sounding lyre?"), the authorhsip of which is unknown.

Provenance: 
Part of a collection assembled by Richard Woodhouse; by descent in 1834 to the publisher John Taylor; by descent in 1864 to his relatives, descending finally to his niece by marriage, Mrs. George Taylor of Bakewell, Derbyshire; purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer Frank T. Sabin in 1906.