BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord (1788-1824). Don Juan. London: Thomas Davison [Cantos I-V], 1822, 1821, John Hunt [Cantos VI-XVI], 1823-1824.

6 volumes, 8vo (215 x 133 mm). Section titles to each Canto. (Lacking advert leaves vols. II, III, IV, and VI, lacking title-page vol. V, some minor spotting.) Uniformly bound in 19th-century calf gilt, spines elaborately gilt, black morocco lettering-pieces gilt. Provenance: John Joseph Tanner (armorial bookplates).

FIRST EDITION of Cantos III-XVI, a "new edtion" of Cantos I-II. In an 1821 letter, Percy Bysshe Shelley told Byron of his "wonder and delight" at the poem, which "carries with it at once the stamp of originality and defiance of imitation. Nothing has ever been written like it in English, nor, if I may venture to prophesy, will there be, unless carrying upon it the mark of a secondary and borrowed light.... You are building up a drama such as England has not yet seen, and the task is sufficiently noble and worthy of you." Tinker 571 (Cantos III-XVI); Wise Byron pp.64-67 (Cantos III-XVI).

[Uniformly bound with:] BYRON. Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice... London: John Murray, 1821. 8vo. Half-title. FIRST EDITION, second issue with the speech on p.151 in 7 lines. Wise Byron p.71. -- Sardanapalus... London: John Murray, 1821. 8vo. Half-title. FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with only the word "Sardanapalus" on the first fly title. -- BYRON. The Works of Lord Byron. London: John Murray, 1823-1825. 7 volumes, 8vo. Engraved portrait frontispiece. FIRST EDITION of Byron's collected works, most volumes published the year before Byron's death.

[Also with:] BYRON. Don Juan. [Cantos I-II]. London: Thomas Davison, 1819. Quarto (280 x 221 mm). Half-title, section titles. (Some staining and spotting.) Disbound (backstrip present). FIRST EDITION, LARGE-PAPER ISSUE, one of 1,500 or so copies thus. -- BYRON. Don Juan. [Cantos I-II]. London; Thomas Davison, 1819. Half-title, section titles. (Some minor spotting.) ORIGINAL DRAB BOARDS, printed label on spine (some wear, some losses to spine ends). FIRST OCTAVO EDITION IN ORIGINAL BOARDS. -- Together 6 works in 17 volumes.

BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord (1788-1824). Don Juan. London: Thomas Davison [Cantos I-V], 1822, 1821, John Hunt [Cantos VI-XVI], 1823-1824.

BYRON, George Gordon Noel, Lord (1788-1824). Don Juan. London: Thomas Davison [Cantos I-V], 1822, 1821, John Hunt [Cantos VI-XVI], 1823-1824.