It occurred to me that I might not have posted these on this forum (I got confused between this one and the LJ group I joined at about the same time), and after doing a brief search, I don't think I did, but forgive me if I'm wrong and this is a repost. Here are a couple of photo scans from the Adami bio of Fanny Keats!
Fanny K in her 40s:
Fanny K in Rome in the 1860s:
Like I said earlier, I was completely floored by these when I first saw them.
Along with the couple of the bios we were discussing on the "Keats criticism" thread, this biography of Fanny Keats is one that I'd strongly recommend to anyone here who's interested in the out-of-print stuff related to Keats. There's so much in here about his family after his death (also relevant to a brief convo we had about Keats descendents, since the biographer actually travels to Spain to meet with some of them. . . although this was written in the 1930s, it's still interesting) that other bios don't get into in as much detail.
For instance, this is one that I thought was particularly bittersweet: The young Valentin Llanos supposedly had come to know of Keats when he was ill in Rome and went to visit him on occasion, even only three days before Keats died. The story goes that, due to this acquaintance, Llanos was eager to travel to England and visit Wentworth Place where Keats had lived. From there, we all know the rest: he and Fanny K were married in 1826
There's little proof that this story panned out as it did, but conjecture points to it as a definite possibility. In any case, I personally love the idea that Keats, being the loving and protective older brother that he was, had that chance to "approve" of the man that his sister would eventually marry.
It's little gems like these that make this book a good read.