archives.nypl.org -- George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron manuscript material (original) (raw)

George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron, English poet. The Lord Byron manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings, correspondence, and various documents. Among the writings are a holograph fair copy of his verse drama, Marino Faliero; the original manuscript of Canto XVI of his satirical poem, Don Juan; and the holograph manuscript of "Fare Thee Well," his poem to Lady Byron upon their separation. The bulk of the correspondence is dated between 1818 and 1823. Correspondents include Teresa Guiccioli, his last Italian mistress; Leigh Hunt, the poet, journalist, and literary critic; Thomas Moore, the poet and songwriter; Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet; and over seventy-five others. The documents include checks, a letter of credit, and a codicil to his last will and testament.

Scope and arrangement

The George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron manuscript material is arranged in three series:

Administrative information

Custodial history

The Pforzheimer Collection actively acquires Lord Byron manuscripts; this finding aid will be updated as new acquisitions are made.

Though fewer than twenty of the Pforzheimer Collection's Lord Byron manuscripts were acquired by the first Carl H. Pforzheimer, three of them were major literary acquisitions: Don Juan, Canto XVI (bought from the descendents of Byron's publisher, John Murray, in 1926), Marino Faliero (from the 1929 sale of the library of Jerome Kern, the Broadway composer), and "Fare Thee Well" (from the 1939 sale of the library of John A. Spoor, the Chicago industrialist). It was under the auspices of the Pforzheimer Foundation -- between 1957 and 1986 -- that the Pforzheimer Library acquired most of its Byron manuscripts: over 100 letters, acquired piecemeal from dealers and through auction, but also the holograph of Beppo: A Venetian Story. Since the Pforzheimer Collection came to the New York Public Library in 1986, over thirty Lord Byron manuscripts have been accessioned.

Processing information

Compiled by Charles Cuykendall Carter.

In addition to manuscript material created by Lord Byron, the Pforzheimer Collection also holds a large collection of "Byronana," including letters by his close friends and family members, documents relating to his finances, and Byron forgeries. Also held are early printed editions of Byron's works, and the library of Byron scholar Leslie A. Marchand, which includes a number of rare biographical and critical works on Byron, as well as a collection of contemporary parodies of Byron. Chief among the Collection's growing Byron-related visual materials are Finden's Illustrations of the Life and Works of Lord Byron (1837), and the Julia Conyers album, which contains drawings by his one-time lover, Lady Caroline Lamb. A few pieces of realia are also held, including a gold memorial ring produced upon Byron's death.

Additional Lord Byron manuscript material can be found in the following divisions of the New York Public Library: The George Arents Collection; The Manuscripts and Archives Division; and The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature.

Key terms

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Using the collection

Location

Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Third Floor, Room 319

Access restrictions

For the sake of preservation, we direct researchers to first consult the published version of a manuscript whenever possible. Most of the Pforzheimer Collection's Lord Byron manuscripts are published, either in Leslie Marchand's edition of Byron's Letters and Journals (Marchand), or in Shelley and his Circle (SC), or in both. This finding aid lists volume and page number references for all manuscripts that appear in those publications.