Ashley MS 1449, A3888

Letters (12) and one postcard from W. M. Rossetti to F. J. Furnivall; 22 April 1886-26 June 1892. The letters are almost entirely concerned with the affairs of the Shelley Society (1886-1892), of which Rossetti was Chair-man and Furnivall founder. There is in addition mention of Rossetti's unpublished compilation of Shelley biographical material 'Cor Cordium' (1449, ff. 3b, 4, 7-8b, 9b) and of an unfavourable review, which Rossetti believed to be by G. B. Shaw or Oscar Wilde, of his Life of Keats, 1887 (A3888). The letters appear to have been forwarded to Wise by Furnivall, as there are notes by the latter, one ex-pressly addressed to Wise, on 1449, ff. 5b, 6b, 12b, 13b, 14, 18, 20-21, 24, 25 and on A3888, f. 63b. On 1449, f. 22 is a pencil note: 'I forward this at Dr Furnivalls request. H. S. Salt.' The notes throw an interesting light on the activities of Furnivall and Wise in manipulating the Society's activities from behind the scenes. Evidence of Wise's piratical reprinting appears in 1449, ff. 25, 25b. Mostly printed in Peattie, op. cit. pp. 489-538 passim. Ashley Library Catalogue, iv, pp. 167-168, 173.