"My name will not appear"
In 1912 Belle Greene compiled a typescript research guide to the Morgan’s Keats collection. The list includes most of the objects discussed in this exhibition, including the Severn sketch and lock of Keats’s hair. Greene described her project in a letter to the art historian Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), her romantic partner, friend, and colleague: “I am working pretty hard on a Keats bibliography for a book which is being prepared in London—of course my name will not appear at all but I am anxious to give all the information I can.” Greene drafted the list for Sidney Colvin (1845–1927), who was writing a new, comprehensive biography of Keats, published in 1917 as John Keats, his Life and Poetry, his Friends, Critics and After-Fame. Though Colvin does thank Greene briefly in his acknowledgments, her words stand as a reminder that scholarship is often advanced by the largely uncredited efforts of librarians.
Greene’s letters to Berenson are preserved at I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. The letters frequently reference Greene’s work at the Morgan, recounting acquisitions, describing collection research, and tracing her extensive professional networks. Another of these letters even touches upon her love of Keats’s poetry. Writing on 22 September 1911, Greene reminisces about her time spent with Berenson at Claridge’s Hotel, London: “you remember the Evening at Claridge’s when you read Keats + Shelley + French verses to me—I think of it—that evening—Every time I read any Baudelaire.” Another romantic interest of Greene’s, the publisher and gallery owner Mitchell Kennerly (1878–1950), also read Keats and Shelley to her, as recounted in a May 1914 letter to Berenson. A team at the Morgan is currently transcribing the entire archive of letters (616 in total) that Greene wrote to Berenson and has plans to make the images and transcriptions freely available online.
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 2. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Manuscript Keats Material, p.1
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 1. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Manuscript Keats Material, p.2
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 2. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Manuscript Keats Material, p.3
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 3. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Manuscript Keats Material, p.4
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 4. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Manuscript Keats Material, p.5
Belle da Costa Greene, “Manuscript Keats Material in Mr. Morgan’s Library,” typescript list with annotations by Greene and Sidney Colvin, 1912, p. 5. ARC 1310. Archives of the Morgan Library & Museum.
Belle da Costa Greene letter to Bernard Berenson, 20 August 1912
Belle da Costa Greene, letter to Bernard Berenson, 20 August 1912, p. 11. Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers, Box 61, Folder 2. Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, courtesy of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
gone before him—
I am working pretty
hard on a Keats bibli-
ography for a book
which is being prepared
in London—of course
my name will not
appear at all but I
am anxious to give
all the information I
Can—
I wrote Sydney
Cockerell and told
him how glad I
was that he liked
you and that “the
Belle da Costa Greene letter to Bernard Berenson, 22 September 1911
Belle da Costa Greene, letter to Bernard Berenson, 22 September 1911, pp. 19–20. Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers, Box 610 Folder 20. Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, courtesy of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
[p. 19]
you remember the Evening
at Claridges when you
read Keats + Shelley +
French verses to me—I
think of it—that evening—
every time I read any
Baudelaire—
“Mère des souvenirs— .. 1
B.B. I would rather have
you read to me than Jean
[p. 20]
de Reske [sic] sing—you
read beautifully daarrling—
I must run now + get
some one of these million
things off my table—
Don’t stop writing to me
daarrling for a day—“I
have been faithful to
thee, Cynara, in my fashion.”2
And I love you + love you
+ love you “in my fashion”
Yours Belle—
- The opening phrase of Charles Baudelaire’s “Le Balcon” (The Balcony), from his Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857).
- Line from Ernest Dowson’s poem “Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae” (1896).
Belle da Costa Greene letter to Bernard Berenson, 5 May 1914
Belle da Costa Greene, letter to Bernard Berenson, 5 May 1914, p.8. Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers, Box 62, Folder 1. Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, courtesy of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
hardly breathe for the joy of it–.
Kennerly came to the house for
dinner last night, just Mother
he + I as both the children were
dining out. He read to me
for several hours—Keats,
Shelley, and—Robert Bridges
whom he adores. Went to bed
quite early and had a horrid
dream about you—I must
send this off now too get it on
the K.W.II.
You must be sure to faithfully
report everything Agnes
says + does—Especially if
it is uncomplimentary to me!
It is so wonderful there, the
trees + grass + flowers, that
I know how far more
wonderful it must be in Florence—
Ever your devoted and
very loving
Belle