Byron's 'Sketch from Private Life'

The item is a printed sheet, folded, of Byron's Sketches from private life, dated 30 March 1816. It shows no sign of having ever been bound, and was quite probably sold as a sheet. No printer's name is evident.

George Gordon Noel Byron (1788-1824) was born in London, and inherited his great uncle William's barony to become the 6th Baron of Rochdale at the age of ten. Byron was educated at Harrow School 1801-1805 and Trinity College Cambridge, 1805-1808; where he received a Master of Arts degree. Whilst at Cambridge, Byron had several poetry books and other works printed and published. On leaving Cambridge, he settled in Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, the ancestral home of the Byrons. He took his seat in the House of Lords on the 13 March 1809 and later that year he began a tour of the Mediterranean and the Near East (1809-1811).

In 1812 Byron published Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Canto I and II and made his maiden speech at the House of Lords. In April 1816 he left England for the continent and spent nearly seven years travelling and writing in Italy. While in Italy he wrote Don Juan, which was published in several parts between 1818-1822. Byron sailed for Greece in July 1823, to help that country in its war for independence. In April 1824 Byron fell ill and died in Missolonghi, Greece.

Usual EUL arrangements apply.

Catalogued by Ian Mortimer, Archivist, 7 January 2002. Encoded into EAD by Charlotte Berry, Archivist, 25 May 2004. All biographical details have been taken from the collection-level description of Byron, created by the University of London Library.

Listed.

Usual EUL arrangements apply.

This item was donated by a Mr Beales to the University Library not long after the occasion of his receiving an Honorary Exeter DLitt, in c1970.

There are many books published on Byron's domestic pieces available in the University Library. Archive materials relating to Byron are held at various UK repositories, including the University of London Library, Bodleian Library (University of Oxford) and the British Library. Extensive collections are also held in the USA.

The item itself is a publication, though most versions of this piece were sold in a sequence of 30, 31 or 32 pp.