Hester Lynch Piozzi Thraliana: Finding Aid mssHM 12183
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Hester Lynch Piozzi Thraliana
Creator:
Piozzi, Hester Lynch,
1741-1821
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 12183
Physical Description:
0.84 Linear Feet
(6 volumes)
Date (inclusive): 1776-1809
Abstract: A manuscript diary in six volumes kept
by Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi from 1776 to 1809.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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[Identification of item]. Hester Lynch Piozzi Thraliana, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Mrs. R. V. Coleman, May 1922.
Mrs. R. V. Coleman was a great-granddaughter of John Piozzi.
Hester Lynch Salusbury Thrale Piozzi (1741-1821) was an important diarist, author and
patron of the arts. She was born at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales, the only daughter
of Hester Lynch Cotton and Sir John Salusbury; she was very highly educated for a woman of
her time. On October 11, 1763, Hester Piozzi married the rich brewer Henry Thrale, at St.
Anne's Chapel, Soho, London. They had twelve children and lived at Streatham Park. After
Thrale's death, she married Gabriel Mario Piozzi on July 25, 1784, an Italian music teacher
who had taught the Thrale's children. Hester Piozzi was a friend of Samuel Johnson, James
Boswell, Oliver Goldsmith, and Frances Burney, among other literary figures. She wrote
"Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson" (1786) which is an important source on the life of
Johnson. Hester Piozzi died at Sion Row, Clifton, Bristol, of complications after a fall,
and was buried on 16 May 1821.
A manuscript diary kept by Hester Lynch Piozzi, from 1776 to 1809; with anecdotes,
autobiographical fragments, marginal notes, and some correspondence copied into the volumes.
In 1776, her husband, Henry Thrale, gave her the six blank diary books with the title
"Thraliana" on the covers. Though called a diary, the work was intended to be like a French
"Ana" which was a gathering of anecdotes; the English model was called a "Table-talk" and
was meant to gather together anecdotes, quotations, observations, stories, verses, and
whatever the author wished to remember. The focus of the first volumes is Samuel Johnson as
they contain anecdotes and stories about his life; Piozzi used these as a basis for her
"Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson" (1786). After Henry Thrale died in April 1781, the
work became more of a diary of her thoughts and life. The volumes are covered in unfinished
calf with red labels with the title "Thraliana" on the front cover of each volume. All of
the volumes have a ruled left hand margin which contain comments, dates, and other
information deemed important by Piozzi.
Processed by Huntington Library staff, circa 1925. In May 2022, Gayle M. Richardson created
an electronic finding aid.
Existence and Location of Copies
Thraliana : the diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (later Mrs. Piozzi) 1776-1809 / edited by
Katharine C. Balderston - complete in two volumes, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1942.
Arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Table-talk -- History -- 18th
century
Table-talk -- History -- 19th century
Women authors, English -- 18th century
Women authors, English -- 19th century
England -- Biography
Anecdotes
Autobiographies -- England -- 18th century
Autobiographies -- England -- 19th century
Diaries –- England –- 18th century
Diaries -- England -- 19th century
Burney, Fanny,
1752-1840
Volume 1
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5