BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD | Three First Editions

The Property of a Gentleman

BYRON, GEORGE GORDON NOEL, LORD

Three First Editions

Sardanapalus, A Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery. London: John Murray, 1821. 8vo (5 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.; 140 x 223 mm). General half-title, general title, three section titles. Original blue boards, tan paper spine, printed cream-colored label to spine; vertical creases to spine, one or two chips to label, minor marginal toning. In half purple morocco slipcase and folding chemise. First edition, first issue, in original boards — Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy...The Prophecy of Dante, a Poem. London: John Murray, 1821. 8vo (5 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.; 140 x 225 mm). Half-title, publisher's advertisements at end; minor foxing. original brown boards, cream-colored paper label to spine; extremities rubbed, loss of paper to head of spine, label chipped. In custom quarter burgundy cloth over marbled board clamshell case. First edition, first issue, John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton's copy. Wise II: 29-30. John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton (ownership inscription to front pastedown) — Mary Hobhouse (ownership inscription to front pastedown) — The Age of Bronze; or, Carmen Seculare et Annus Haud Mirabilis. London: John Hunt, 1823. 8vo (5 5/8 x 8 3/4 in.; 144 x 223 mm). Half-title, publisher's advertisements at end; one or two stray spots. Original brown wrappers; minor chipping to head and foot of spine, minor toning to edges. Housed in a custom cloth chemise, gilt lettered on spine. First edition in original wrappers. Randolph 81; Wise II: 41-42

Group lots not subject to return.

Together three first editions

The present copy of Sardanapalus is a fine example of this collection of dramatic works, together representing a historical tragedy in blank verse set in ancient Nineveh (Sardanapalus); a verse play set in 15th century Venice based on the downfall of doge Francesco Foscari and his son Jacopo (The Two Foscari); and a closet drama exploring the story of Cain and Abel from Cain's point of view (Cain). 

This copy of Marino Faliero bears the ownership signature of John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton, who founded a Whig club while at Cambridge, and as a result of this became a close friend of Lord Byron. In 1809 the pair travelled together across Portugal and Spain to Gibraltar, Malta, Albania and into Greece, and Hobhouse’s Imitations and Translations (1809) contained several poems by Byron. Hobhouse served as best man at Byron’s wedding, and although censorious of some of Byron’s poetry, remained his close friend throughout Byron’s life, with the two men meeting for the last time in Pisa in September 1822. Hobhouse was appointed Byron’s executor, and was present at the burning of Byron’s memoirs in the offices of John Murray following Byron’s death. An exceptional association copy

The Age Of Bronze was Byron's anonymously published satire inspired by the Congress of Verona. Byron first visited Spain in 1809, and romanticized his impressions in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A decade later, Byron—who had called Ferdinand VII a fool and a bigot— praised the Spanish liberal revolution, and quite rightly saw it as the catalyst to the rise of other revolutions in southern Europe. With the Neapolitan uprising defeated by an Austrian army, and the Holy Alliance poised to decimate the Spanish constitutional régime, Byron sought to offer apolitically engaged poetical response to this state of affairs, the result being The Age of Bronze