To the Nile
poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Horsham, 1792 - 1822, near Viareggio)
Date4 February 1818
Place MadeUnited Kingdom, Europe
MediumInk on paper
Dimensions21.3 x 12.5 cm (8 3/8 x 4 15/16 in.)
ClassificationsManuscripts
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberU27e59
eMuseum ID724884
EmbARK ObjectID24276
TMS Source ID8845
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner was an avid reader of poetry and enjoyed the work of many poets of the Romantic era, including Percy Bysshe Shelley. This original manuscript imagines the landscape of the Nile as a site of literary and historical significance, and the river itself as both a symbol and a source of knowledge. Isabella Stewart Gardner traveled the Nile by boat in 1874-1875 and would have appreciated the geographical allusions within this sonnet.
BibliographyNotesPercy Bysshe Shelley. "To the Nile." The St. James's Magazine and United Empire Review (March 1876), pp. 647. (First time published in print)
Harry Buxtorm Forman (ed.). The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. (London: Reeves and Turner, 1876-77), p. 410.
Michael O'Neill and Daniel Reiman. Fair Copy Manuscripts of Shelley's Poems in European and American Libraries (New York: Garland, 1997).
Daniel Reiman et al. The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Vol. 3 (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012) pp. 323, 328, 955-959. (Dated 4 February 1818)
Harry Buxtorm Forman (ed.). The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. (London: Reeves and Turner, 1876-77), p. 410.
Michael O'Neill and Daniel Reiman. Fair Copy Manuscripts of Shelley's Poems in European and American Libraries (New York: Garland, 1997).
Daniel Reiman et al. The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Vol. 3 (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012) pp. 323, 328, 955-959. (Dated 4 February 1818)
MarksNotesInscribed in pencil (verso, upper right corner): EF17
Inscribed in ink (verso, lower center): [...]pence
Inscribed in ink (verso, lower center): [...]pence
ProvenanceNotesCollection of English essayist, critic, journalist, and poet Leigh Hunt (1784-1859).
By inheritance to editor Thorton Hunt (1810-1873).
Gift to Samuel Ralph Townshend Mayer (1841-1880), Spring 1873.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), London for £30 on 22 July 1886. (with John Keat's poem "Robin Hood," ARC.008148)
By inheritance to editor Thorton Hunt (1810-1873).
Gift to Samuel Ralph Townshend Mayer (1841-1880), Spring 1873.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from bookseller Bernard Quaritch (1819-1899), London for £30 on 22 July 1886. (with John Keat's poem "Robin Hood," ARC.008148)
