The Works of Lord Byron, vol 1

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Byron #2 in our series by Byron
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Title: Byron's Poetical Works, Vol. 1
Author: Byron
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8861]
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0. START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BYRON'S
POETICAL WORKS, VOL. 1 ***
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Clytie Siddall
and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
THE WORKS
OF
LORD BYRON.
A NEW, REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION,
WITH
ILLUSTRATIONS.
POETRY, VOLUME 1.
EDITED BY
ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE, M.A.
1898
PREFACE TO THE POEMS.
The text of the present issue of Lord Byron's Poetical Works is based
on that of 'The Works of Lord Byron', in six volumes, 12mo, which
was published by John Murray in 1831. That edition followed the text
of the successive issues of plays and poems which appeared in the
author's lifetime, and were subject to his own revision, or that of
Gifford and other accredited readers. A more or less thorough collation
of the printed volumes with the MSS. which were at Moore's disposal,
yielded a number of variorum readings which have appeared in
subsequent editions published by John Murray. Fresh collations of the
text of individual poems with the original MSS. have been made from
time to time, with the result that the text of the latest edition (one-vol.
8vo, 1891) includes some emendations, and has been supplemented by
additional variants. Textual errors of more or less importance, which
had crept into the numerous editions which succeeded the

seventeen-volume edition of 1832, were in some instances corrected,
but in others passed over. For the purposes of the present edition the
printed text has been collated with all the MSS. which passed through
Moore's hands, and, also, for the first time, with MSS. of the following
plays and poems, viz. 'English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers'; 'Childe
Harold', Canto IV.; 'Don Juan', Cantos VI.-XVI.; 'Werner'; 'The
Deformed Transformed'; 'Lara'; 'Parisina'; 'The Prophecy of Dante';
'The Vision of Judgment'; 'The Age of Bronze'; 'The Island'. The only
works of any importance which have been printed directly from the text
of the first edition, without reference to the MSS., are the following,
which appeared in 'The Liberal' (1822-23), viz.: 'Heaven and Earth',
'The Blues', and 'Morgante Maggiore'.
A new and, it is believed, an improved punctuation has been adopted.
In this respect Byron did not profess to prepare his MSS. for the press,
and the punctuation, for which Gifford is mainly responsible, has been
reconsidered with reference solely to the meaning and interpretation of
the sentences as they occur.
In the 'Hours of Idleness and Other Early Poems', the typography of the
first four editions, as a rule, has been preserved. A uniform typography
in accordance with modern use has been adopted for all poems of later
date. Variants, being the readings of one or more MSS. or of successive
editions, are printed in italics [as footnotes. text Ed] immediately below
the text. They are marked by Roman numerals. Words and lines
through which the author has drawn his pen in the MSS. or Revises are
marked 'MS. erased'.
Poems and plays are given, so far as possible, in chronological order.
'Childe Harold' and 'Don Juan', which were written and published in
parts, are printed continuously; and minor poems, including the first
four satires, have been arranged in groups according to the date of
composition. Epigrams and 'jeux d'esprit' have been placed together, in
chronological order, towards the end of the sixth volume. A
Bibliography of the poems will immediately precede the Index at the
close of the sixth volume.
The edition contains at least thirty hitherto unpublished poems,

including fifteen stanzas of the unfinished seventeenth canto of 'Don
Juan', and a considerable fragment of the third part of 'The Deformed
Transformed'. The eleven unpublished poems from MSS. preserved at
Newstead, which appear in the