"ON WITH THE DANCE! LET JOY BE UNCONFIN'D!"
BYRON. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. A Romaunt. WITH: The Giaour. A Fragment of A Turkish Tale. WITH: The Bride of Abydos. A Turkish Tale. WITH: The Corsair. A tale. London: John Murray, 1812; London: John Murray, 1813; London: John Murray, 1813; and London: John Murray, 1814. Two volumes. Octavo, late 19th-century full brown calf gilt, raised bands, marbled edges.
Lovely set of some of Byron's most beloved works, including a second edition of the first two cantos of Childe Harold and early editions of three of his Turkish tales, handsomely bound.
"Byron is to a far greater degree than the other romanticists the poet of humankind. He conveys with tremendous power the majesty and desolation of history, the vanity of pomp and pride, the transitoriness of fame. And he is the poet of contemporary society, keen to discern the false and the corrupt, courageous in denunciation yet with pity for the young and innocent… As a poet he mirrored brilliantly and without distortion an absorbingly interesting world" (Baugh, 1229). The first edition of the first two cantos of Childe Harold was published in 1812; this is the second edition from the same year, the first to include six new poems ("Euthanasia", "Stanzas [And art thou dead, as young and fair]", "Stanzas [If sometimes in the haunts of men]", "On a Cornelian Heart which was broken", "To a Youthful Friend", and "To ******* [Well! thou are happy, and I feel]".) With half titles, except for The Bride of Abydos. With errata to The Bride of Abydos tipped onto verso of dedication page. The Giaour is the second edition, published the same year as the first. The Bride of Abydos is a first edition, first issue, with only 20 lines on page 47. The Corsair is a first edition, second issue, without the words "The End" and printer's imprint on page 100. Wise 52, 79, 85, and 95. Armorial bookplates of Charles Kinnaird, 8th Lord Kinnaird. 19th-century ink owner inscription.
Slight marginal wormholing to first two leaves of Volume II, occasional foxing to interiors, expert restoration to joints and spine ends.