Paget Jackson Toynbee, FBA (20 January 1855–13 May 1932)[1] was a British Dante scholar.[2]Robert Hollander has described Toynbee as 'the most influential Dantean scholar of his time'.[3]
He was educated at Haileybury College,[5][6] and matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in January 1874, aged 19 where he read Classics; B.A. 1878, M.A. 1880;[4] he gained a D. Litt in 1901.[2] After spending some years as a private tutor, including periods in Cape Colony in 1881 and Japan and Australia 1886–87,[2] he decided to concentrate on literary research and writing. Beginning with Old French language and literature, he turned to Dante, compiling the index to Tutte le opere di Dante Alighieri, the "Oxford Dante", edited by Edward Moore. He continued to publish significant works about Dante and papers in academic journals between 1898 and 1924.[1] According to C. M. Ady, "his exhaustive memory and tireless energy won him a worldwide reputation as a Dantist."[2]
Toynbee married Helen Wrigley (19 October 1868–18 April 1910) on 23 August 1894 in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, where they later built a house named Fiveways.[1] She spent the rest of her life editing the letters of Horace Walpole, but died suddenly in 1910 after an operation.[1] The couple had no children, and apart from a tame robin for company he became a virtual recluse for the rest of his life although he sometimes stayed in Oxford with another Dante specialist, William W. Jackson.[2]
It seems that Toynbee had been assisting his wife in her literary endeavours for many years, and after her death he completed her three unfinished volumes of letters from Marie du Deffand to Walpole, published in 1912. He also edited the three supplementary volumes to her edition of Walpole's Letters, published 1918–1925.[1]
Toynbee, Helen Wrigley, ed. (1912). Lettres de la Marquise du Deffand à Horace Walpole (1766–1780). 3 vols. (Completed by her husband Paget Toynbee after her death in 1910) (in French). Methuen & Co. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3
The Vision of Dante Alighieri [1814]. Translated by Henry Francis Cary. Revised with an introduction by Toynbee. London: Methuen & Co. (1900–1902) Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3
Reminiscences Written by Mr. Horace Walpole in 1788 for the Amusement of Miss Mary and Miss Agnes Berry, Now First Printed in Full from the Original Ms. With Notes and Index by Toynbee. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1924)
The Letters of Horace Walpole. ed. Helen Wrigley Toynbee (d. 1910). 16 volumes. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1903–5). Editor of Supplements (3 volumes, 1918–1925) Suppl. Vol. 1 • Suppl. Vol. 2 • Suppl. Vol. 3
Correspondence of Thomas Gray. [1935]. (3 volumes) Oxford: Clarendon Press (1971). Editor (posthumously) with Leonard Whibley. Vol. 1 • Vol. 2 • Vol. 3 NB Free registration needed to borrow for 1 hour at a time.
'Dante in English art' in The thirty-eighth annual report of the Dante Society (Cambridge, Massachusetts) 1919 (1921)
'The Oxford Dante' in The forty-second, forty-third, and forty-fourth annual report of the Dante Society (Cambridge, Massachusetts) 1926 (1926)
Legacy
In the years immediately before his death, Toynbee donated manuscripts, papers and correspondence relating to Dante and to Horace Walpole to the Bodleian Library and other Oxford libraries.[9] Further papers were bequeathed by him in 1932.[10]
The Paget Toynbee lectures on Dante have taken place annually in Oxford since 1995.[11]
The current Paget Toynbee Lecturer in Italian Medieval Studies at Balliol College (as of 2024) is Professor Elena Lombardi.[12]
^Robert Hollander in 'Introduction' to Paget Toynbee, Dante Alighieri His Life and Works (New York: Dover Publication, 2005) ISBN0-486-44340-X
^ abFoster, Joseph (1888–1892). "Toynbee, Paget Jackson". Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886. Vol. 4. Oxford: Parker and Co. p. 1432.
