Aphra Behn

1640–1689

Introduction

Only one undoubtedly authentic literary autograph manuscript by Aphra Behn would appear to survive. It is the presentation fair copy, written near the end of her life (and with a Lame hand scarce able to hold a pen), of her elegy on the death of Edmund Waller, sent to Waller's daughter-in-law Abigail. This manuscript, which was first recorded by Edmund Gosse in his article on Aphra Behn in the Dictionary of National Biography (1885), remained with Waller's family descendants until it appeared at auction in 1981, after which it passed to the Pierpont Morgan Library (*BeA 10).

Letters and Documents

Other extant autograph manuscripts by Aphra Behn take the form of letters, the majority written by her early in her career and partly in cipher, while acting as a government spy in Flanders. They have all been given entries below (BeA 37-54).

These letters are supplemented by extant transcripts among the State Papers, two in her own hand, of certain letters originally sent to her in 1666 by the agent William Scott, transcripts which she sent on to London or which were copied or summarized from the originals by officials there (BeA 56-62).

Published Letters

Other letters purporting to be written by Mrs Behn were published posthumously through the somewhat less than reliable agencies of Charles Gildon and Tom Brown. Eight Love-Letters by M^rs. A. Behn, signed Astrea and addressed to Lycidas, (i.e. ? John Hoyle), were included by Gildon in The Histories and Novels of the Late Ingenious M^rs Behn … together with the Life and Memoirs of Mrs. Behn, Written by One of the Fair Sex (London, 1696), pp. 401-16; reprinted in The Plays, Histories, and Novels of the Ingenious Mrs Aphra Behn, 6 vols (London, 1871), I, 54-72. These are discussed in Cameron (p. 90 et seq.), who roundly dismisses Gildon's account of Mrs Behn as a fiction masquerading as biography. Duffy also discusses them (pp. 135-7) but comments: To me they have the ring of authenticity especially since they often repeat, or reflect, happenings in the poems. Further Love-Letters, By Mrs. A. Behn, never Printed appear in Familiar Letters of Love, Gallantry, and several Occasions, by the Wits of the last and present Age … together with Mr. T. Brown's Remains, 2 vols (London, 1718), I, 29 et seq. Two addressed to the actress Emily Price (pp. 29-32), and including two sets of verses, are reprinted in Duffy (pp. 127-8), who observes that they do not ring completely true but that, rather than being complete fakes, they may have been based on authentic letters subject to Brown's tampering. Even more suspect is the letter by A. Behn on pp. 38-9, To Mr. Hoyle, occasion'd by the report of his too close Familiarity with young F—ws, &c and relating to the subject of homosexuality. This is regarded by Duffy (pp. 184-6) as more likely to be a fabrication, although she thinks it just conceivable that it was broadly based on an authentic letter. These letters are also accompanied in Familiar Letters by four letters to Philander by A. Behn, the fourth signed Silvia (pp. 32-5); by an unsigned verse epistle to the Earl of Kildare, disswading him from marrying Moll Howard (pp. 36-7); reprinted in Summers, VI, 395-6; and by the poem An Imperfect Enjoyment (pp. 39-45: see BeA 4-7 below). If at all genuine, these printed letters — together with the eighteen recorded in entries below and her printed dedicatory epistles (addressed to such persons as James, Duke of York; Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton; Henry Howard, Earl of Arundel; Nell Gwynne; the Marquess of Worcester; the Earl of Salisbury; Sir William Clifton; Peter Weston; and Laurence Hyde, Earl of Rochester) — are all that are known to remain of what Duffy considers (p. 11) must have been an enormous correspondence, the loss of which is made even more bitter by the way the undisputably authentic ones speak out so distinctively.

The Firth Manuscript

One other manuscript associated with Aphra Behn is known at present. It is a large folio miscellany preserved in the Bodleian (MS Firth c. 16). On the first leaf are inscribed the words Astrea's Booke For Songs & Satyr's followed by the date 1686 changed to 1688. Among other, subsequent, scribbling on the page is the word Bhen written by someone who evidently made the connection between Mrs Behn and her nom-de-plume Astrea. Several, evidently professional, hands are responsible for the contents of this manuscript, although its occasional untidiness, as well as the list of names and addresses scribbled at the front and back, suggest that it was a retained, in-house product of a scriptorium rather than a formal compilation actually prepared on commission for delivery to someone. One of the most predominant hands has been identified by Mary Ann O'Donnell as that of Aphra Behn. Although in her last years Behn is known to have suffered intermittently from palsy, the similarity of hands is sufficiently strong for this identification to be taken seriously. The possibility that, on occasions, Behn may have turned her hand to professional copying is slightly reinforced by the evidence of one of her formal petitions (*BeA 48), which shows at least her abilty to adopt or imitate the formulae and layout of professional scriveners. As for her involvement in the compilation of printed miscellanies (possibly the earliest woman in England to compile and publish such things), there are plenty of examples of these: see Anne Russell, Aphra Behn's Miscellanies: The Politics and Poetics of Editing, Philological Quarterly, 77/3 (Summer 1998), 307-28, and Public and Private in Aphra Behn's Miscellanies: Women Writers, Print, and Manuscript, in Write or Be Written: Early Modern Women Poets and Cultural Constraints, ed. Barbara Smith and Ursula Appelt (Aldershot, 2001), pp. 29-48.

Books Owned by Aphra Behn

Only a single printed book can currently be identified as probably once belonging to Aphra Behn. It is an edition of Thomas Killigrew's plays (1664) which seems to be signed by her on most of the title-pages (*BeA 64). Given her connection with Killigrew, whose play Thomaso, The Wanderer was the basis for her play The Rover, this is a particularly interesting association volume.

Literary Manuscripts

Apart from an eighteenth-century prompt-book of The Rover (BeA 23.5), Aphra Behn's literary works are represented in manuscripts only by a copy of her posthumously published play The Younger Brother (BeA 24) and by copies of a few of her poems which, for the most part, found their way into the printed miscellanies and collections of poems on affairs of state.

The Canon

The canon of Aphra Behn's works is taken to be that established in Summers, with the addition of a few separately published poems that appear in Todd's edition and one, generally attributed to the Earl of Dorset (DoC 309), plausibly introduced into the Behn canon by John Burrows and Harold Love. A few other poems of uncertain authorshp found in manuscript sources are given entries below under the category of Poems Doubtfully Ascribed to Aphra Behn (BeA 26-35).

Manuscript copies, not recorded here, also exist of the anonymous song Lucinda is bewitching fair, in Henry Purcell's musical setting, written for a later revival of Aphra Behn's play Abdelazer in 1695. For these see Franklin B. Zimmerman, Henry Purcell 1659-1695: An Analytical Catalogue of his Music (London & New York, 1963), p. 241 (the Stoneleigh MS mentioned here now being British Library, Add. MS 63626, ff. 34v-5r).

Unspecified pieces by Aphra Behn and others are also reported to have been in a small octavo commonplace book of the late-seventeenth century, once owned by the Hertfordshire solicitor and historian Reginald L. Hine (1883-1949). It was sold at Sotheby's, 12 December 1977, lot 110, to Quaritch.

Abbreviations

Cameron — W. J. Cameron, New Light on Aphra Behn (Auckland, 1961).
Duffy — Maureen Duffy, The Passionate Shepherdess: Aphra Behn 1640-89 (London, 1977).
Summers — The Works of Aphra Behn, ed. Montague Summers, 6 vols (London, 1915).
Todd — The Works of Aphra Behn, ed. Janet Todd, 7 vols (London, 1993-6).

Verse

Cæsar's Ghost ('Twas still Low Ebb of Night, when not a starr')

See DoC 309.

The Coquet ('Melinda, who had never been')

First published in La Monstre, or, The Lover's Watch (London, 1686). Summers, VI, 29-30.

BeA 1

Copy, headed Song on M^rs M. How-d.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single accomplished professional hand, ii + 222 pages, with an Index, in contemporary calf.

c.early 1700s

Inscribed on the front pastedown to be left at Inbourg's Muff-shop / Pall-Mall and S^t hov^r Singleton. Formerly Folger MS 473.1.

The Folger Shakespeare Library: V.b. series (MS V.b.94 pp. 110-12) | Catalogue

BeA 2

Copy.

In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, 475 pages (plus a six-page index and a number of blanks), in contemporary black morocco gilt.

In two professional hands (A: pp. 1-126; B: pp. 129-45 and probably the Index).

c.1690

Once owned by James Bindley. Sale December 1818 (Bindley sale). Phillipps MS 8418. Sotheby's, 18 June 1908, lot 627.

A transcript of this volume made by George Thorn-Drury, KC (1860-1931), literary scholar and editor, is Harvard MS Eng 633.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 585 pp. 347-8) | Catalogue

BeA 3

Copy.

In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled A Booke of Paragrafts, including 22 poems by Rochester, 445 pages plus stubs of extracted leaves (originally 463 numbered pages and now lacking pp. 59-68, 147-54 and parts of pp. 155-8), with a two-leaf index; in contemporary red morocco.

In professional hands: A, pp. 1-194; B, in a different style and probably a different hand, pp. 195-432; C, probably yet another hand, with additions on pp. 75, 90, 102, 125, 142, 175, 195, and pp. 433-63.

c.1680s-90s

Inscribed (on stubs and endpapers) matt Calihan, To C^pt Robinson att Ca^pt Eloass [Elwes] near y^e Watch house in Marlbur^hroagh street, For Cap^t. Robinson at his Lodginges in Charing Cross. Christie's, 27 June 1979, lot 16.

Various commissioned officers named Robinson are recorded in Charles Dalton, English Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661-1714 (6 vols, London, 1892-1904): see esp. I, 276. The volume was most probably owned by Charles Robinson of the King's Regiment of Foot Guards, who became Captain and then Lieutenant-Colonel in 1688 and was killed at Namur in 1695. A member of the same regiment in 1684 was the purveyor of MS lampoons Captain Lenthal Warcup. The Captain Eloass mentioned in one inscription was possibly William Elwes, who served as a Lieutenant in Viscount Colchester's Regiment of Horse, c.1692-4, and as a Captain in Lord Windsor's Regiment of Horse in 1702.

Cited in IELM, II.ii, as the Robinson MS: RoJ Δ 8. Discussed with facsimiles of pp. 1-10 in Paul Hammond, The Robinson Manuscript Miscellany of Restoration Verse in the Brotherton Collection, Leeds, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, 18 (1982), 275-324 [cited in entries as Hammond, Robinson]. Facsimiles of p. 1 also in Christie's sale catalogue, Plate 1, after p. 48, and in The Brotherton Collection University of Leeds: Its contents described with illustrations of fifty books and manuscripts (Leeds, 1986), p. 17. Selectively collated in Walker.

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 54 pp. 214-15) | Catalogue

The Disappointment ('One day the Amorous Lysander')

First published in Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable, the E[arl] of R[ochester] (Antwerp [i.e. London], 1680). Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 178-82. Todd, I, No. 28, pp. 65-9.

Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 448-50.

BeA 4

Copy.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

In: A duodecimo verse miscellany, in English and Latin, in several hands, ii + 53 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf.

c.1690

J. Salkeld, sale catalogue No. 222 (17 June 1885), item 273.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Add. B. 106 ff. 40r-2r) | Catalogue

BeA 5

Copy, headed An Imperfect Enjoyment, By M^ris A. Behn.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

In: A folio miscellany of poems chiefly on affairs of state, entitled A Collection of Poems, including 27 poems by Rochester (all ascribed to him), xii + 299 pages (plus a number of blanks), including a table of contents, in contemporary calf (rebacked).

In a single professional hand but for a few later additions at the very end (pp. 295-8, with some pages tipped-in).

c.1690s

Recorded in IELM, II.ii as the Harvard MS: RoJ Δ 7.

Harvard, other MSS (fMS Eng 636 pp. 117-24) | Catalogue

BeA 6

Copy, headed The Imperfect Enjoyment.

In: A formal quarto miscellany, of poems on affairs of state, including 29 poems by Rochester, as well as apocryphal items, in three professional hands (A, pp. 1-278; B, pp. 279-84; C, pp. 285-314), 314 pages (plus blanks), in contemporary red morocco.

c.1680

Once owned by Count Carl Edward Gyldenstolpe (1770-1852) and perhaps originally acquired by Count Nils Gyldenstolpe (1642-1709), Swedish Ambassador at The Hague (in 1679-87).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as the Gyldenstolpe MS: RoJ Δ 14. A complete facsimile edition in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe (1967).

Royal Library, Stockholm (MS Vu. 69 pp. 89-96) | Catalogue

BeA 7

Copy of the last ten lines, here beginning The Nymphs Resentments, none but I, imperfect, lacking the rest.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled Songs & Verses - Upon severall occasions, 406 pages (but pp. 35-44, 63-6, 77-86, 115-32, 153-8, 161-84, and 195-212 excised).

Including 30 poems by Rochester (and probably others by him on missing leaves); pp. 1-392 in a single professional hand (that also responsible for Princeton, RTC01 No. 34); pp. 392-406 in a second hand.

c.1680

Inscribed on the title-page Hansen: i.e. very probably the diplomat Friedrich Adolphus Hansen, who visited England in September 1680 in the entourage of Charles, electoral Prince Palatine. Owned, in 1951 by Dr A.S.W. Rosenbach (1876-1952), Philadelphia book dealer, collector and scholar.

Cited in IELM, II as the Yale MS: RoJ Δ 16. The MS was identified by David M. Vieth as an independent scribal transcript of the copy-text used for the first edition of Poems on Several Occasions By the Right Honourable, the E. of R— (Antwerp [i.e. London], 1680): see Attribution, pp. 56-100, and The Text of Rochester and the Editions of 1680, PBSA, 50 (1956), 243-63. Discussed extensively, and Hansen identified, in Harold Love, Scribal Texts and Literary Communities: The Rochester Circle and Osborn b. 105, SB, 42 (1989), 219-35. Facsimile of p. 62 in Vieth (1968), frontispiece. Recorded and selectively collated in Vieth (1968) and in Walker.

Yale, Osborn MS b 100 through Osborn MS b 149 (Osborn MS b 105 p. 213) | Catalogue | First Lines Index

Doubt ('Doubt, y^e worst Tyrant of a gen'rous Mind')

First published in Todd, I (1992), No. 94, p. 358.

BeA 7.5

A four-line extract allegedly from Mrs Behn.

Edited from this MS in Todd.

In: A quarto verse miscellany, largely in one hand, with additions by others, written from both ends, material at the reverse end dated 1708-9, ii + 114 leaves, in 19th-century half-calf.

Inscribed (f. [ii^r]), probably by the compiler, Ex Libris Georgij Wright [b.1685/6] S^ti Johannis Collegis Cantabrigiensis Alumni, Decimo quarto Junij. Annoq. Domini 1703.

c.1703-9

Also inscribed (f.[ii^r]) M^rs Frances Wright 1708. A postal address on f. 95r (rev.) reads: Direct to Marg^tt Borrett att M^rs. Borretts In Kirkby=stephen Westmoorland p brough bag _ These.

Recorded in IELM, II.ii, as the Wright MS: WaE Δ 12.

Edinburgh University Library (MS Dc. 3. 76 f. 67r)

On a Conventicle ('Behold that race, whence England's Woes proceed')

First published in Charles Gildon, Miscellany Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1692). Summers, VI. Todd, I, 355 (No. 91).

BeA 7.8

Copy, as by M^rs Behn.

In: An octavo miscellany, in English and Latin, in a single hand, 141 leaves (ff. 124v-41v blank), in contemporary calf.

c.1690s

Bought from P.J. and A.E. Dobell, in 1922, by Reginald L. Hine (1883-1949), solicitor, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 71 f. 48v) | Catalogue

On a Juniper-Tree, cut down to make Busks ('Whilst happy I Triumphant stood')

Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 450-1.

BeA 8

Copy, headed On a Giniper Tree now cut downe to make Busks. By M^rs Behn.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled Songs & Verses - Upon severall occasions, 406 pages (but pp. 35-44, 63-6, 77-86, 115-32, 153-8, 161-84, and 195-212 excised).

c.1680

Yale, Osborn MS b 100 through Osborn MS b 149 (Osborn MS b 105 pp. 214-20) | Catalogue | First Lines Index

On Desire, A Pindarick ('What Art thou, oh! thou new-found pain?')

First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 356-60. Todd, I, No. 77, pp. 281-4.

BeA 9

Copy, in a neat italic hand, headed Desire / A Pindaric, in a booklet of eight quarto leaves (on rectos only), plus blanks, in a paper wrapper.

Late 17th century

University of Nottingham (Pw V 159) | Catalogue

BeA 9.5

Copy, headed Upon Desire.

In: A quarto verse miscellany.

Compiled by Lady Henrietta Harley.

Mid-18th century

University of Nottingham (Pw V 1066 ff. 30v rev., 29v rev., 28v rev., 27v rev., 26v rev.) | Catalogue

On the Death of E. Waller, Esq ('How, to thy Sacred Memory, shall I bring')

First published in Poems to the Memory of that Incomparable Poet Edmund Waller, Esquire (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 405-7.

*BeA 10

Autograph

Autograph copy, with corrections, signed, on four quarto pages, sent by Mrs Behn to Abigail Waller, the poet's daughter-in-law, originally accompanying BeA 52.

1687

Formerly Pierpont Morgan Library MA 3585. Sotheby's, 21 July 1981, lot 441.

Facsimiles of the first page in Sotheby's sale catalogue; in IELM, II.i (1993), Facsimile I, after p. xxiv; and, of all the poem, in Todd, I, after p. 288.

The Pierpont Morgan Library (MA 4395) | Catalogue

BeA 11

Copy.

In: A quarto volume of poems to the memory of Edmund Waller, in the hand of the Quaker writer Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713), transcribed from the edition of 1688.

c.1688

Among papers of the Waller family.

Mr Richard Waller ([no shelfmark] ff. [7v-9r])

On the death of Mr. Grinhil, the Famous Painter ('What doleful crys are these that fright my sence')

Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 451-2.

BeA 12

This MS recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe.

In: A quarto composite miscellany of poems on affairs of state, 137 pages (plus eight pages of later additions and eight blank pages), in modern cloth.

In a single hand, including sixteen poems by Rochester, pp. 139-46 occupied by charges of the Grand Jury added after 1714.

c.1680s

Recorded in IELM II.ii as the Gilpin MS: RoJ Δ 3.

Bodleian Library, Eng. misc. MSS (MS Eng. misc. e. 536 pp. 63-5) | Catalogue

BeA 13

Copy.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in several hands, one professional stylish hand predominating, with (ff. 1r, 2r) a Table of contents, 213 leaves, in contemporary blind-stamped calf.

Including 29 poems by Rochester (plus a second copy of one) and Sodom, as well as apocryphal items.

c.1680s

Once owned by Thomas Fermor (1698-1753), first Earl of Pomfret, of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire. Also used by one James Parks.

Recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe, and selectively collated in Walker.

University of Nottingham (Pw V 40 ff. 128v-9v) | Catalogue

BeA 14

Copy.

c.1680

Once owned by Count Carl Edward Gyldenstolpe (1770-1852) and perhaps originally acquired by Count Nils Gyldenstolpe (1642-1709), Swedish Ambassador at The Hague (in 1679-87).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as the Gyldenstolpe MS: RoJ Δ 14. A complete facsimile edition in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe (1967).

Royal Library, Stockholm (MS Vu. 69 pp. 295-8) | Catalogue

BeA 15

Copy, headed On y^e Death of that most Excellent Painter, M^r Greenhill. By M^rs Behn.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled Songs & Verses - Upon severall occasions, 406 pages (but pp. 35-44, 63-6, 77-86, 115-32, 153-8, 161-84, and 195-212 excised).

c.1680

Yale, Osborn MS b 100 through Osborn MS b 149 (Osborn MS b 105 pp. 221-6) | Catalogue | First Lines Index

On the Death of the late Earl of Rochester ('Mourn, Mourn, ye Muses, all your loss deplore')

First published in Miscellany, Being A Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Todd, Works, I, No. 53, pp. 161-3.

BeA 15.5

Copy, subscribed A Behn.

In: A quarto verse miscellany, in a single neat hand, ii + 168 leaves (plus blanks), including some laid-down printed pages, in contemporary calf (lacking upper cover).

c.1740

Sotheby's, 18 May 2000, lot 558, to Hugh Pagan.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 60000 through end (Add. MS 74763 ff. 89r-90v)

BeA 15.8

Copy, headed Another on the Death of the Late Earl of Rochester. & in part. p. M^rs. Bhenn. Behn.

In: A quarto verse miscellany, in a single hand, entitled (p. 1, in engrossed lettering) Tho^s. Walker Book of Miscellanies 1712, 252 pages (jumping from p. 56 to 61), in modern half dark green morocco.

Compiled by Thomas Walker (b.1682), of Mosley, near Ashton under Lyne, Greater Manchester, including (pp. 105-6, 203) verses by him to his parents etc., dated 1720/1-27.

c.1712-27

Later owned by Sir Charles Bradbury (his sale December 1864, lot 2819), to Haywood, thence bought by Sir Thomas Baker. Bernard Halliday, bookseller of Leicester, February 1930.

The University of Manchester Library (English MS 521 pp. 241-2)

On the first discovery of falseness in Amintas ('Make hast! make hast! my miserable Soul')

First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 361-3. Todd, I, No. 79, pp. 286-7.

BeA 16

Copy, in a small hand, untitled, on the rectos of two conjugate quarto leaves.

Late 17th century

The Folger Shakespeare Library, Miscellaneous manuscripts (MS X.d.250) | Catalogue

Ovid to Julia. A Letter ('Fair Royal Maid, permit a Youth undone')

First published in Miscellany, Being a Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Summers, VI, 363. Todd, No. 63, pp. 182-4.

BeA 16.5

In: A quarto verse miscellany, comprising principally translations or imitations of classical authors, chiefly in a single cursive hand, a later hand writing over a number of pages, entitled A Choice Collection of Miscellany Poems Upon severall Subjects. Gathered out of severall Authors, by W^m. Gordon…In the Year, M.DCC,XI, c.260 pages (plus blanks), all independently paginated in separate sections, in half-morocco.

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 pp. 115-18)

A Paraphrase on the Lords Prayer ('O Wondrous condescention of a God')

First published, as By Mrs. A. B., in Miscellany, Being a Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Todd, No. 58, pp. 171-4.

BeA 16.8

Copy, as by Mrs Ann Behn.

In: A quarto verse miscellany.

Early 18th century

National Library of Scotland, other MSS (MS 17800 ff. 73r-5v) | Catalogue

A Pastoral Pindarick. On the Marriage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Dorset and Middlesex, to the Lady Mary Compton. A Dialogue. Between Damon and Aminta ('Whither, young Damon, whither in such hast')

First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 350-6. Todd, I, No. 76, pp. 275-80.

BeA 17

Copy in a section entitled A Collection of Poems and Lampoons &c^a Not yet Printed.

In: A tall folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in professional hands, 257 leaves, in modern calf gilt.

In three sections each with its own title-page.

First section: A Collection of Poems and Lampoons &c^a Not yet Printed.

Second section (f. 102r): A Collection of Choice Poems, Satyrs, & Lampoons From 1672 to 1688 Never printed.

Third section (f. 146r): A Collection of Poems. From 1688 to 1699. 1703/4.

Early 1700s

The Folger Shakespeare Library, Miscellaneous manuscripts (MS M.b.12 ff. 129r-33r) | Catalogue

BeA 17.5

Copy, headed A Pindaric ode on the marriage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Dorcett and Middlesex to the Lady Mary Compton and here beginning Whether goeing Damon whether in shuch hast

c.1680s-90s

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 54 pp. 245-56) | Catalogue

Satyr on Dryden ('Scorning religion all thy life time past')

First published in Summers (1915), VI, 400-1 (edited from a transcript made by G. Thorn-Drury from a MS in his possession which he copied from one itself copied by Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833) from an old MS in [his] Port Folio). Todd, No. 71, p. 231. Authorship uncertain: see Mary Ann O'Donnell, Private jottings, public utterances: Aphra Behn's published writings and her commonplace book, in Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 285-309 (pp. 297-300).

BeA 18

Copy, headed Another on Mr Bays.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, originally entitled Astrea's Booke of Songs & Satyr's 1686, in probably seven hands, vi + 332 pages (including 23 blanks), in half-calf.

Predominantly in two alternating semi-professional hands, the second of which (on altogether 117 pages) is probably that of the author Aphra Behn (1640?-89); poems on pp. 307-8 added by a later hand in 1736-8.

c.1686-9 [with additions to 1738]

Bookplate of William Busby. Among the collections of Sir Charles Harding Firth (1857-1936), historian.

This MS volume discussed, and the second hand identified as Aphra Behn's, in Mary Ann O'Donnell, A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218, with facsimile examples of the title-page, and of pp. 50, 119, 180, 226, 238, 261, 307. Also discussed by her in Private jottings, public utterances: Aphra Behn's published writings and her commonplace book, in Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 285-309.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Firth c. 16 p. 103) | Catalogue | First Lines Index

BeA 19

Copy, headed A Satyr on Doctor Dryden by M^rs. Bhen.

Edited from this MS in Todd.

In: A folio composite volume of papers, in several hands and paper sizes, ff. 19r-40v comprising a miscellany of verse and some prose in an unidentified cursive rounded hand, 84 leaves, mounted on guards, in half black morocco.

Papers of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, author, the verse compiled by him probably when he was at Trinity College Dublin.

c.1679-88 [and 1700s]

Presented by Mrs E. Bromley, 12 April 1913.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 35000 through 39999 (Add. MS 38671 ff. 32v-3r) | Catalogue

BeA 20

Copy, headed M^rs. Bhen or M^r. Dryden, renegate, on a single quarto leaf.

Late 17th century

Formerly in the custody of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark. Recorded in Summers (VI, 436) as being missing, or transferred to other Roman Catholic archives, probably since 1875. Rediscovered by Janet Todd.

Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 235.

Westminster Diocesan Archives ([unspecified shelfmark])

The Sence of a Letter sent me, made into Verse. To a New Tune ('In vain I have labour'd the victor to prove')

First published in The Amorous Prince (London, 1671). Todd, p. 58, No. 22.

BeA 20.3

Copy.

In: A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands, a neat mixed hand predominating up to f. 55r, 151 leaves (including a few blanks), in contemporary calf.

c.1730

Inscribed (in another hand) on the front pastedown Thomas Boydell. Formerly Folger MS 4108.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 300 through end (MS V.a.308 f. 14r) | Catalogue

Song. To a New Scotch Tune ('Young Jemmy was a Lad')

First published as a broadside, London, 1681. Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 210-11. Todd, I, 97-8.

BeA 20.5

Copy, headed Song by M^rs Behn.

In: A small quarto miscellany of chiefly Restoration songs and ballads, many from plays, in one or more small hands, 48 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary brown calf.

Folios 1r-32r copied c.1686-8 in a single hand; ff. 33v-48r copied c.1688-94 in four other hands.

c.1686-94

Later owned by Sir Francis Freeling, first Baronet (1764-1836), postal administrator and book collector. Evans (Sotheby's), 25 November 1836 (Freeling sale), lot 1156. Acquired from Leo S. Olschki, 6 November 1986.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 60000 through end (Add. MS 64060 f. 22v)

To Alexis in Answer to his Poem against Fruition. Ode ('Ah hapless sex! who bear no charms')

First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 348-9. Todd, Np. 74, pp. 272-3.

BeA 21

Copy, in a professional hand, headed To Alexis on his verses against Fruition, on two conjugate quarto leaves, the text following (on f. 63r-v) Against Fruition. By Alexis (Ah wretched man whom neither Fate…).

In: A folio composite volume of poems, chiefly on affairs of state, in various hands, 67 leaves, in modern quarter crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.

Late 17th century

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 655 f. 64r-v)

Verses design'd by Mrs. A. Behn to be sent to a fair Lady, that desir'd she would absent herself to cure her Love. Left unfinishd ('In vain to Woods and Deserts I retire')

First published in Charles Gildon, Miscellany Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1692). Summers, VI, 389. Todd, I, No. 92, p. 356.

BeA 22

In: An octavo verse miscellany, in several generally italic hands, written originally on rectos only, the versos used by later hands, i + 112 leaves (ff. 93-5 excised), in old calf (rebacked).

Including 26 poems by Thomas Carew and one of doubtful authorship.

c.1694-1740

Inscribed (inside the front cver) Tho: Jesson His Book 1694; (ff. i^r, 5v) S Harriott 1740, and a poem (f. 37v) subscribed Sarah Harriott.

Recorded in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Jesson MS: CwT Δ 23.

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 468 f. 39r)

BeA 23

This is actually a different poem by Behn: see BeA 20.3.

Deleted entry (Folger MS V.a.308, f. 14r) | Catalogue

Dramatic Works

Abdelazar, or The Moor's Revenge, Act I: song ('Love in fantastick triumph sat')

First published in London, 1677. Summers, II, 6-98. Todd, V, 245-315.

BeA 23.3

Copy of the song, untitled.

In: An octavo verse miscellany, containing chiefly songs, largely in a single hand, 46 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

c.1680s

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 34 f. 33r) | Catalogue

The City-Heiress, Act IV, scene i. Song ('In Phillis all vile jilltts are Meett')

First published, as The City Heiress, or, Sir Timothy Treat-all, in London 1682. Summers, II, 201-300 (p. 260). Todd, VII, 6-77 (p. 49).

BeA 23.4

Copy.

In: A folio formal verse miscellany, comprising c.406 poems, many of them song lyrics, in various neat hands, compiled probably over a period, 8 blank leaves (pp. [i-xvi]) + 10 unnumbered pages of poems (pp. [xvii-xxvi]) + 9 numbered pages (pp. 1-9) + ff. [9v]-151v + 12 leaves at the end blank but for a poem on the penultimate page (f. [11v]), in contemporary calf gilt.

Once erroneously associated with Thomas Killigrew (1612-83), whose hand does not appear in the volume.

Mid-17th century-c.1702

Inscribed (f. [ir]) S^r Robert Killigrew / 1702. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 9070. Sotheby's, 19 May 1897, lot 455.

Discussed, with a facsimile example, in Nancy Cutbirth, Thomas Killigrew's Commonplace Book?, Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin, NS No. 13 (1980), 31-8.

University of Texas at Austin (Ms (Killigrew, T) Works B Commonplace book f. 151r) | Catalogue

The Lucky Chance. or, An Alderman's Bargain

First published in London, 1687. Summers, III, 188-279. Todd, VII, 213-84.

The Rover. or, The Banish't Cavaliers

First published in London, 1677. Todd, V, 452-521.

BeA 23.5

An exemplum of the printed quarto edition (London, 1677), marked-up in black ink in a neat roman hand as a promptbook, with cues for players' entrances and exits, various cuts, and various passages boxed off, imperfect, lacking the last leaf of the Epilogue, in old half-calf on marbled boards.

Early 18th century

Inscribed (title-page verso) W^m West. 1727, who paid 3 shillings for it. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.

This volume discussed in Edward A. Langhans, Three Early Eighteenth-Century Promptbooks, TN, 20 (1965-6), 142-50.

University of London, Senate House Library (Special Collections [D.-L.L.] (XVII) Bc [Behn])

The Second Part of The Rover, Act IV, scene i. Song ('Ah pox upon this needless score')

First published in London, 1681. Summers, I, 115-213 (p. 188). Todd, VI, 228-98 (pp. 280-1). Also edited, as The Counsel. A Song. Set by Captain Pack, in Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 190-1.

BeA 23.7

Copy of the song, headed Song in y^e 2^d pt of the Rover A Behn.

In: A small quarto miscellany of chiefly Restoration songs and ballads, many from plays, in one or more small hands, 48 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary brown calf.

Folios 1r-32r copied c.1686-8 in a single hand; ff. 33v-48r copied c.1688-94 in four other hands.

c.1686-94

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 60000 through end (Add. MS 64060 f. 9v)

BeA 23.9

Copy of the song, untitled.

In: An octavo verse miscellany, containing chiefly songs, largely in a single hand, 46 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

c.1680s

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 34 ff. 8v-9r) | Catalogue

The Young Brother. or, The Amorous Jilt

First published (in an edited version, and with a biographical preface, by Charles Gildon) London, 1696. Summers, IV, 311-99. Todd, VII, 359-417.

BeA 24

Copy, in a professional hand, headed The Younger Brother or the Amorous Jilt a Comedy acted at the Theatre royal By his Majestys Servants Written by the late Ingenious M^rs. Behn and with (ff. 2r-3r) [Charles Gildon's]. An account of the Life of the Incomparable M^rs. Behn, on 34 folio leaves, slightly imperfect. c.1700.

In: A folio composite volume of plays and poems, in various hands, ii + 171 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, Rawl. poet. 150 through 199 (MS Rawl. poet. 195 ff. 1r-34v) | Catalogue

The Young King: or, the Mistake

First published in London, 1683. Summers, II, 105-93. Todd, VII, 83-151.

BeA 25

Copy, headed Song in the Young King.

In: A small quarto miscellany of chiefly Restoration songs and ballads, many from plays, in one or more small hands, 48 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary brown calf.

Folios 1r-32r copied c.1686-8 in a single hand; ff. 33v-48r copied c.1688-94 in four other hands.

c.1686-94

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 60000 through end (Add. MS 64060 ff. 5v-6r)

Poems Doubtfully Ascribed to Aphra Behn

The Complaint, A Song ('I Love, I dote, I rave with pain')

BeA 26

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 pp. 119-21)

The Epilogue to Mrs Behn's play The Lucky Chance ('Long have we turn'd the point of our just Rage')

Published as Written by a Person of Quality and as Spoken by Mr. Betterton. Summers, III, 278-9.

BeA 27

Copy.

1687

University of Nottingham (Pw 2 V 128) | Catalogue

The History of Leander and Hero: From the Greek of Musæus ('Come, sing, my Muse, y^tLamp, y^tonce did prove')

BeA 28

Copy, imperfect at the end.

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 pp. 121-8)

The Lamentation for Adonis ('I mourn Adonis, fair Adonis dead')

BeA 29

Copy, with full title.

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 pp. 109 -15)

The last Nights Ramble. 1686 ('Warm'd with the pleasures w^ch: debauches yield')

Ascribed to Aphra Behn in BeA 32. Various other MS copies of this poem are anonymous.

BeA 30

Copy.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state entitled A Choice Collection of Poems, Lampoons, Satyrs &c^a, xx + 412 pages (339-411 blank).

c.1700

Among the collections of Sir Charles Harding Firth (1857-1936), historian.

This MS collated in POAS, I.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Firth c. 15 p. 268) | Catalogue | First Lines Index

BeA 31

Copy.

In: A formal folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, including eleven by Rochester and Sodom, as well as apocryphal items, probably in a single professional hand, 444 leaves (including a six-leaf index).

c.1690s

Cited in IELM, II.ii as the Vienna MS: RoJ Δ 12. Discussed in Rudolf Brotanek, Beschreibung der Handschrift 14090 (Supplement 1776) der Nationalbibliothek in Wien, in Festschrift der Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Vienna, 1926), 145-62. Recorded and selectively collated in Vieth and in Walker.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna (Cod. 14090 f. 415r) | Catalogue

BeA 32

Copy, ascribed to M^rs Behn.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single professional rounded hand, entitled A Collection of Choyce Poems, Lampoons, and Satyrs from 1673 to 1689. Never Extant in Print, 335 pages (plus a Table of contents and blanks), in modern red morocco.

c.1690s

In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector. Formerly Restoration poetry MS 2.

This MS collated in POAS, I.

Princeton (RTC01 No. 35 pp. 182-8) | Catalogue

BeA 33

Copy.

In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single professional hand, in two volumes: Vol. I, including twelve poems by Rochester and Sodom, as well as apocryphal items, pp. 1-461 (plus index); Vol. II, pp. 462-842 (with irregularities of pagination).

This MS is closely related to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Cod. 14090.

c.1690s-1700

Later owned by Alexander Dyce (1798-1869), literary scholar and editor, who records that £50 was given by Perry, for these 2 volumes.

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as the Dyce MS: RoJ Δ 15.

Victoria and Albert Museum (Dyce MS 43 (Pressmark Dyce 25.F.37-38) p. 784) | Catalogue

Satyr on Dryden ('Scorning religion all thy life time past')

See BeA 18-20.

Song ('Yee happy Swains, whose Hearts are free')

BeA 34

Copy.

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 pp. 118-19)

Song ('Ye Virgin Pow'rs, defend my Heart')

Written by Mrs Taylor.

BeA 35

Copy.

1711-12

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 798 p. 79)

Prose

A Discovery of New Worlds

First published, as From the French [of B. Le Bovier de Fontenelle] Made English by Mrs. A. Behn, in London, 1688.

BeA 36

Extracts.

In: A folio miscellany of extracts, in a single cursive hand, 351 leaves, in modern half brown morocco on marbled boards.

c.1685-1700s

Sotheby's, 13 July 1855, lot 1364.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 20000 through 24999 (Add. MS 21107 f. 52r-v) | Catalogue

Letters

Letter(s)

BeA 37

Autograph letter signed by Aphra Behn, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [6]/16 August 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 36-40. Facsimiles of two pages in Duffy, on endpapers.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/167/160)

*BeA 38

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [17]/27 August 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 40-2.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/169/38)

*BeA 39

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [21]/31 August 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 48-50.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/169/117)

*BeA 40

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [21/31 August].

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 51-8.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/169/118)

*BeA 41

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [25 August]/4 September 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 55-8.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/170/75)

*BeA 42

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, [from Antwerp], [4]/14 September 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 60-1.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/171/120)

*BeA 43

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [7]/17 September 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 62-4.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/14)

*BeA 44

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, Antwerp, [11]/21 September 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 69-72.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/81)

*BeA 45

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, [from Antwerp], [15]/25 September 1666. incorporating Aphra Behn's transcript of a letter to her by William Scott.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 74-6.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/173/3)

*BeA 46

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, from Antwerp, [24 October]/3 November 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 80-2.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/177/42)

*BeA 47

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, [from Antwerp], [16]/26 December 1666, incorporating an extract by Aphra Behn of a letter to her by William Scott.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 83-6.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/182/143)

*BeA 48

Autograph

An autograph petition by Aphra Behn, to King Charles II, [1668?], in a formal version of her hand, [1668?].

1668?

Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/251.A/90)

BeA 49

A petition by Aphra Behn, in a professional hand, to King Charles II, [1668?].

1668?

Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/251/A/91)

*BeA 50

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [1668?].

1668?

Facsimiles in Summers, I, facing p. xxvi; in Angeline Goreau, Reconstructing Aphra (Oxford, 1980), Plate 14, after p. 180; and in Mary Ann O'Donnell, A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 5, p. 197).

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/251.A/91.I)

BeA 51

A petition by Aphra Behn, in a professional hand, to King Charles II, [1668?].

1668?

Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/251.A/92)

*BeA 52

Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Behn, to Abigail Waller, following her father-in-law's death on 21 October 1687, originally accompanying BeA 10.

1687

Edited (from a transcript owned by George Thorn-Drury) in Summers, I, l-li. Facsimiles of the last page in Sotheby's sale catalogue, 21 July 1981, Lot 440, and in Mary Ann O'Donnell, A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 8, p. 202).

The Pierpont Morgan Library (MA 3584)

*BeA 53

Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Jacob Tonson, [undated].

Late 17th century

Formerly among Tonson papers belonging to W.R. Baker, at Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire. Christie's, 17 December 1907, lot 152, to Sotheran. Sotheby's, 17 March 1930, lot 183, to Maggs.

Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 70. Edited in Gentleman's Magazine, NS 5 (May 1836), 481-2, and (from a transcript made by Edmond Malone and owned by G. Thorn-Drury) in Summers, I, xlv-xlvi.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Behn letter])

BeA 54

Copy of Behn's letter to Jacob Tonson, undated.

In: A quarto volume of transcripts by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector, of letters to Jacob Tonson, copied from the originals in the possⁿ. of Will^m. Baker, Esq^re, 143 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum.

Late 18th century

Yale (Gen MSS Vol. 229 pp. 121-3)

Documents

Document(s)

*BeA 55

Autograph

An autograph bond relating to Zachary Baggs and the playing my first play, on one side of an oblong octavo leaf, 1 August 1685.

1685

Formerly among the Tonson papers belonging to W.R. Baker at Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire.

Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 70. Edited in Gentleman's Magazine, NS 5 (May 1836), 482, and in Summers, I, xlviii. Facsimile example in Mary Ann O'Donnell, A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 6, p. 198).

The Folger Shakespeare Library, Miscellaneous manuscripts (MS C.c.1(4))

*BeA 56

Autograph

Aphra Behn's autograph copy of a letter to her by William Scott, from Rotterdam, 28 August/7 September 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 58-9. Facsimile in Mary Ann O'Donnell, A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 4, p. 196).

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/169/39)

BeA 57

Official copy of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott.

1666

Edited in Cameron.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/171/65)

*BeA 58

Autograph

Aphra Behn's autograph copy of a letter to her by William Scott.

Edited in Cameron, pp. 65-8. Facsimile example in Duffy, p. 76.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/14.I)

BeA 59

Official copy of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott.

1666

Edited in Cameron.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/66)

BeA 60

Official copy of instructions sent to Aphra Behn, headed Memorialls for M^rs Affora.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 34-5.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/81.I)

*BeA 61

Autograph

Autograph letter signed by William Scott, to Aphra Behn, with her autograph footnote before she sent it on to James Halsall in London.

1666

Edited in Cameron, pp. 43-8. Facsimile of the last page in Duffy, p. 80.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/172/81.II)

BeA 62

Official copy of the Contents of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott, from Rotterdam, 5 October 1666.

1666

Edited in Cameron.

National Archives, Kew (SP 29/173/4-5)

BeA 63

Copy of Behn's bond relating to Zachary Baggs, 1 August 1685.

Late 18th century

Yale (Gen MSS Vol. 229 p. 124)

Books Owned by Aphra Behn

Killigrew, Thomas. Comedies and Tragedies (London, 1664)

*BeA 64

Autograph

An exemplum of the printed folio edition, with the title-pages for the ten individual plays inscribed ?Mad Behn, most of the inscriptions probably in Behn's own hand.

c.1664

Columbia University, New York (B823K55 I 1664) | Catalogue

Editorial Papers

BeA 65

A collection of over forty letters by Montague Summers, to A.H. Bullen, principally discussing at length his edition of The Works of Aphra Behn, c.80 quarto and octavo pages.

1913-21

Sotheby's, 13 December 1990, lot 294, to T. D'Arch Smith, with a facsimile example in the sale catalogue.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Behn editorial MSS])