Henry James based the story on an anecdote he had heard when he was in Florence in 1879. Jane Clairmont, the half-sister of Shelley's wife Mary and the mother of Byron's daughter Electra, was still alive and that an unscrupulous Shelley devotee had posed as a lodger in order find any unpublished papers. After the aged Jane died, her niece offered the papers to him, but at a price.
A number of UK big names were on the shortlist for the male lead.
In 1962 Michael Redgrave successfully adapted the story to the New York stage starring Maurice Evans and Wendy Hiller.
James first published 'The Aspern Papers' in the March-May editions of 'The Atlantic Monthly'. In the original story the heroine's name was Tita. In later editions of the story James changed the name to Tina.