BYRON, George Gordon Byron, Baron (1788--1824)
[Childe Harold. Cantos 1--2]
Childe Harold's pilgrimage. A romaunt. By Lord Byron. The second edition.
London:, printed for John Murray; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin. By Thomas Davison,, 1812.
xii, 300, [2] p., [1] fold. facsim. ; 20.9 cm. (8º)

The first, third and fourth editions also appeared in 1812. The 'Note on the errors in the inscriptions at Orchomenus' is placed at the end. Byron began writing the poem of a young man seeking distraction from romantic disappointment in travel during his own grand tour to the Iberian peninsula and the Turkish Levant in 1809--1811, and the publication of the first two cantos in spring 1812 by the publisher John Murray (who specialized in travel literature) brought him instant fame. Canto III was written in Switzerland and published in 1816 and Canto IV (written in Venice) in 1818. See T.J. Wise, Bibliography of Byron, London, 1932, vol. I, p. 52.

Copy Notes Imperfect; wanting the half-title

Binding Later C19th mauve half calf, marbled-paper boards, gilt-dotted and blind-ruled spine, black morocco spine-label. Payment of 2s. to George Richmond, bookbinder 3 August 1853. (Curatorial papers/Bailey/Parcel 1).

Reference Number 1330

Additional Names Richmond, George, bookbinder