![KEATS, John (1795-1821). Manuscript in the hand of his close friend John Hamilton Reynolds of the poem 'Song / In drear nighted December', n.d. [c. December 1817].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14299_0063_000(keats_john_manuscript_in_the_hand_of_his_close_friend_john_hamilton_re050906).jpg?w=1)
Details
KEATS, John (1795-1821). Manuscript in the hand of his close friend John Hamilton Reynolds of the poem 'Song / In drear nighted December', n.d. [c. December 1817].
One page, 231 x 189mm (remains of mounting strip on left margin, laid down on an album leaf).
A lost source for this poem. The reappearance of the present manuscript resolves a crux in the textual history of this poem. Reynolds's handwriting closely resembles that of his friend Keats, and this manuscript was long considered to be autograph. It is described thus in the Poems (ed. J. Stillinger, 1978): 'Another holograph, possibly Keats's original draft, was extant as late as 13 June 1876, when it was sold at Sotheby's to Charles Law, but has since disappeared; Law lent it just after he acquired it to H.B. Forman, who reported its readings in various editions beginning in 1883'. Although not autograph, the manuscript preserves a number of textual variants, which presumably originate with Keats's original draft: the variants are analysed by Stillinger (op. cit. p.221, 583-5). The poem was not published until 1829.
One page, 231 x 189mm (remains of mounting strip on left margin, laid down on an album leaf).
A lost source for this poem. The reappearance of the present manuscript resolves a crux in the textual history of this poem. Reynolds's handwriting closely resembles that of his friend Keats, and this manuscript was long considered to be autograph. It is described thus in the Poems (ed. J. Stillinger, 1978): 'Another holograph, possibly Keats's original draft, was extant as late as 13 June 1876, when it was sold at Sotheby's to Charles Law, but has since disappeared; Law lent it just after he acquired it to H.B. Forman, who reported its readings in various editions beginning in 1883'. Although not autograph, the manuscript preserves a number of textual variants, which presumably originate with Keats's original draft: the variants are analysed by Stillinger (op. cit. p.221, 583-5). The poem was not published until 1829.
Brought to you by
Robert Tyrwhitt