Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt: and Other Poems
BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt: and Other Poems
London: Printed for John Murray, 1814
8vo., beautifully bound in contemporary full red morocco, embossed in both gilt and blind with decorative and ruled borders, a central panel featuring decorative gilt cornerpieces; four raised bands to spine, similarly decorated with devices and lettering in gilt (the titles to the second and fourth compartment, the devices to the first, third and last); decorative gilt turn-ins; all edges gilt; dark yellow endpapers; pp. [vii], iv-xii, [iii], 4-296, [iv]; with folding letter in Greek to face p. 296; a little rubbed to extremities, particularly to edges and along spine, as well as to head and foot of backstrip; a few dark marks to the fore-edge; internally crisp, with some marginal even toning and the odd spot to page margins, mostly affecting the prelims; an excellent copy. Provenance: gift inscription to the front flyleaf “Norris, John Wodehouse / Given him by Tynte [?] / on leaving Eton Decemb. / 1894.”
Eighth edition, containing the additional nine poems ‘From the Portuguese’, ‘Impromptu in a Reply to a Friend’, ‘Address on the opening of Drury-lane Theatre’, ‘To Time’, ‘Translations of a Romaic Love Song’, ‘A Song [Thou art not false, but thou art fickle]’, ‘Origin of Love’, ‘Remember him’ and ‘Lines inscribed upon a cup formed from a skull’.
First published in 1812, Byron’s poem was an instant success, rocketing him to fame. The first, quarto edition of 500 copies sold out within days, and over the following two years nine further editions followed. “'I awoke one morning” Byron noted in his diary at the time, “and found myself famous”. He “rapidly became the most brilliant star in the dazzling world of Regency London… sought after at every society venue, elected to several exclusive clubs, and frequent[ing] the most fashionable London drawing-rooms." (McGann, 2013).
The poem describes the travels of a young man through Spain and Portugal, to the Greek and Albanian countryside, and into Switzerland and Italy. Along the way, he contemplates the history and beauty of the lands beneath his feet, from the Battle of Waterloo and the invasion of the French to the enslavement of Greece by the Turks. Byron himself had travelled extensively in Europe between 1809 and 1811, and the poem was thought to have been directly inspired by his experiences on the Continent. So popular was the work that it was immediately satirised, copied and imitated over the following ten years, gaining even more momentum when the poet died during the Greek War of Independence. While early editions such as these feature just two Cantos, Byron later added two more - the third appearing in 1816 and the fourth in 1818, following his further travels in Switzerland and Italy. The poem also controversially depicts Byron’s fierce opposition to the removal of the Elgin marbles:
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed,
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.
Norris John Wodehouse (1798 – 1819) was the eldest son of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse and Charlotte Laura Norris; a distant relative of P. G. Wodehouse.
A lovely edition of one of the works which made Lord Byron a household name.
Wise, p. 53-54.
BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt: and Other Poems
London: Printed for John Murray, 1814
8vo., beautifully bound in contemporary full red morocco, embossed in both gilt and blind with decorative and ruled borders, a central panel featuring decorative gilt cornerpieces; four raised bands to spine, similarly decorated with devices and lettering in gilt (the titles to the second and fourth compartment, the devices to the first, third and last); decorative gilt turn-ins; all edges gilt; dark yellow endpapers; pp. [vii], iv-xii, [iii], 4-296, [iv]; with folding letter in Greek to face p. 296; a little rubbed to extremities, particularly to edges and along spine, as well as to head and foot of backstrip; a few dark marks to the fore-edge; internally crisp, with some marginal even toning and the odd spot to page margins, mostly affecting the prelims; an excellent copy. Provenance: gift inscription to the front flyleaf “Norris, John Wodehouse / Given him by Tynte [?] / on leaving Eton Decemb. / 1894.”
Eighth edition, containing the additional nine poems ‘From the Portuguese’, ‘Impromptu in a Reply to a Friend’, ‘Address on the opening of Drury-lane Theatre’, ‘To Time’, ‘Translations of a Romaic Love Song’, ‘A Song [Thou art not false, but thou art fickle]’, ‘Origin of Love’, ‘Remember him’ and ‘Lines inscribed upon a cup formed from a skull’.
First published in 1812, Byron’s poem was an instant success, rocketing him to fame. The first, quarto edition of 500 copies sold out within days, and over the following two years nine further editions followed. “'I awoke one morning” Byron noted in his diary at the time, “and found myself famous”. He “rapidly became the most brilliant star in the dazzling world of Regency London… sought after at every society venue, elected to several exclusive clubs, and frequent[ing] the most fashionable London drawing-rooms." (McGann, 2013).
The poem describes the travels of a young man through Spain and Portugal, to the Greek and Albanian countryside, and into Switzerland and Italy. Along the way, he contemplates the history and beauty of the lands beneath his feet, from the Battle of Waterloo and the invasion of the French to the enslavement of Greece by the Turks. Byron himself had travelled extensively in Europe between 1809 and 1811, and the poem was thought to have been directly inspired by his experiences on the Continent. So popular was the work that it was immediately satirised, copied and imitated over the following ten years, gaining even more momentum when the poet died during the Greek War of Independence. While early editions such as these feature just two Cantos, Byron later added two more - the third appearing in 1816 and the fourth in 1818, following his further travels in Switzerland and Italy. The poem also controversially depicts Byron’s fierce opposition to the removal of the Elgin marbles:
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed,
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.
Norris John Wodehouse (1798 – 1819) was the eldest son of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse and Charlotte Laura Norris; a distant relative of P. G. Wodehouse.
A lovely edition of one of the works which made Lord Byron a household name.
Wise, p. 53-54.
BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, A Romaunt: and Other Poems
London: Printed for John Murray, 1814
8vo., beautifully bound in contemporary full red morocco, embossed in both gilt and blind with decorative and ruled borders, a central panel featuring decorative gilt cornerpieces; four raised bands to spine, similarly decorated with devices and lettering in gilt (the titles to the second and fourth compartment, the devices to the first, third and last); decorative gilt turn-ins; all edges gilt; dark yellow endpapers; pp. [vii], iv-xii, [iii], 4-296, [iv]; with folding letter in Greek to face p. 296; a little rubbed to extremities, particularly to edges and along spine, as well as to head and foot of backstrip; a few dark marks to the fore-edge; internally crisp, with some marginal even toning and the odd spot to page margins, mostly affecting the prelims; an excellent copy. Provenance: gift inscription to the front flyleaf “Norris, John Wodehouse / Given him by Tynte [?] / on leaving Eton Decemb. / 1894.”
Eighth edition, containing the additional nine poems ‘From the Portuguese’, ‘Impromptu in a Reply to a Friend’, ‘Address on the opening of Drury-lane Theatre’, ‘To Time’, ‘Translations of a Romaic Love Song’, ‘A Song [Thou art not false, but thou art fickle]’, ‘Origin of Love’, ‘Remember him’ and ‘Lines inscribed upon a cup formed from a skull’.
First published in 1812, Byron’s poem was an instant success, rocketing him to fame. The first, quarto edition of 500 copies sold out within days, and over the following two years nine further editions followed. “'I awoke one morning” Byron noted in his diary at the time, “and found myself famous”. He “rapidly became the most brilliant star in the dazzling world of Regency London… sought after at every society venue, elected to several exclusive clubs, and frequent[ing] the most fashionable London drawing-rooms." (McGann, 2013).
The poem describes the travels of a young man through Spain and Portugal, to the Greek and Albanian countryside, and into Switzerland and Italy. Along the way, he contemplates the history and beauty of the lands beneath his feet, from the Battle of Waterloo and the invasion of the French to the enslavement of Greece by the Turks. Byron himself had travelled extensively in Europe between 1809 and 1811, and the poem was thought to have been directly inspired by his experiences on the Continent. So popular was the work that it was immediately satirised, copied and imitated over the following ten years, gaining even more momentum when the poet died during the Greek War of Independence. While early editions such as these feature just two Cantos, Byron later added two more - the third appearing in 1816 and the fourth in 1818, following his further travels in Switzerland and Italy. The poem also controversially depicts Byron’s fierce opposition to the removal of the Elgin marbles:
Dull is the eye that will not weep to see
Thy walls defaced, thy mouldering shrines removed,
By British hands, which it had best behoved
To guard those relics ne'er to be restored.
Norris John Wodehouse (1798 – 1819) was the eldest son of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse and Charlotte Laura Norris; a distant relative of P. G. Wodehouse.
A lovely edition of one of the works which made Lord Byron a household name.
Wise, p. 53-54.