Books

First edition of Byron's epic satire, a rare complete set uncut in original boards, from the collection of Byron bibliographer Francis Lewis Randolph, with his bookplate to the front pastedowns, and the stamps of Arthur's Club on St James's Street to the last four volumes, in the heart of Mayfair's clubland which Byron himself frequented. "Virginia Woolf described Don Juan as the most readable poem in the language, a view that few would gainsay. It is an opinion that can, however, obscure the poem's greatness. In English only The Canterbury Tales can compare in terms of stylistic brilliance, and no English poem - perhaps no novel - has aspired to, or achieved, such a comprehensive interpretative grasp of a period and a world. It is also the funniest poem in the language" (ODNB). The poem has an unorthodox publishing history. Murray was nervous about the first two cantos and requested cuts, but Byron was uncooperative, so Murray only agreed to publish in quarto format, with his printer, Thomas Davison, named and therefore bearing the legal responsibility. Priced at £1 11s. 6d, the first volume was, as Murray no doubt intended, prohibitively expensive. Murray was even more unhappy about cantos 3-5, which were issued again under Davison's name, though in a more affordable octavo. Thereafter, Murray would have nothing to do with the poem, and the later cantos were published in octavo by Leigh Hunt's brother John, who relished publishing radical or controversial works. Randolph (1951-1974) died at just 22 en route to the ceremony in Greece marking the 150th anniversary of Byron's death, leaving unfinished what promised to be a definitive bibliography of Byron. The work he completed, based on his own collection, was published in 1979 as Studies for a Byron Bibliography. He also founded the Byron Society of America, served as its president, and published its journal. The latter volumes also have the stamp of Arthur's Club, founded in 1811. The club's building on 69 St James's Street now houses the Carlton Club, next door to the Cocoa Tree Club at 64 St James's, of which Byron was a member, across the road from Byron's own sometime address at 8 St James's (the same abode where, on 10 March 1812, he awoke to find himself famous after the publication of Childe Harold), and just across Piccadilly from his publisher John Murray's address at 50 Albemarle Street, in the fireplace of which his memoirs were burned after his death. READ MORE Six vols, the first in quarto, the others octavo. Uncut in original drab grey-brown boards, rebacked at an early date in black cloth preserving original printed paper labels (vol. I more recently rebacked in the same style and relined). Housed in green cloth solander box. Also included is an additional first volume - the "new edition", the first in octavo, of Cantos 1 and 2, 1819, similarly bound. Vol. II with 8pp. terminal advertisements (Modern publications... printed for Ogle, Duncan, and Co - possibly a retailer's catalogue); vol. III with final advert leaf dated July 1823; vol. IV with 4pp. advertisements dated September 1823; vol. VI with 16pp Canto 1, stanza 15 omitted in original letterpress, here transcribed in early hand; contemporary stamp of Arthur's Club in St James to vol. III p. iii, vols. IV & V title pages, and vol. VI p. 5. Restoration at spine ends of vols. II-VI, light wear at cover extremities, minor soiling to boards, some loss to labels, light stain at foot of gutter in vol. I, some foxing to contents. A very good set. Wise, Byron II, pp. 3-8; Randolph, pp. 69-93.

Don Juan is a long poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womanizer but as someone easily seduced by women.