This volume contains manuscripts relating to three poems written by Byron – ‘Bride of Abydos’, ‘Lament of Tasso’ and ‘Werner’.

The content has been listed in the order in which it appears in the volume. All manuscripts are in the hand of Byron, although some dates have been added by John Murray.

‘Lord Byron: Complete poetical works’, edited by Jermone McGann, has been used in some of the following descriptions.

Folios 1-5, 26, 29, 44, 46, 54, 56, 70 and 75-81 are blank.

Loosely inserted letter of Leonard Leopold Mackall to John Murray IV, with enclosures of a copy of the errata slip to the first edition of ‘Bride of Abydos’ and a press cutting of ‘Notes and Queries’ dated 5 Jun 1909, 1914: folios iv-vi;

Manuscripts of ‘Bride of Abydos’, 1813, folios 6-43, including:

Title page for the manuscripts in an unidentified hand: folio 6;

Manuscript of Dedication dated 20 November 1813: folio 7;

Manuscript of lines in Canto I stanza I, [1813]: folio 8;

Fair copy of Canto I stanzas 1-5, dated 11 November 1813: folios 9-16;

Additions and insertions relating to Canto I stanza 6, dated 19, 20 and 22 November 1813: folios 17-22;

Additions and insertions to Canto I stanza 12, [1813]: folios 23-24;

Manuscript of lines in Canto I stanza 13 [1813]: folio 25;

Manuscript of lines in Canto II stanza 17, [1813]: folio 30;

Manuscript of lines in Canto II stanza 5, [1813]: folio 31;

Manuscripts, additions and insertions to Canto II stanza 20, with the exception of f. 38r which contains lines of Canto I stanza 13, some folios dated 3 December 1813, [1813]: folios 32-39;

Manuscripts and insertions of lines in Canto II stanzas 25-27, [1813]: folios 40-43;

Manuscript of ‘Lament of Tasso’, 1817 and undated, folios 45-53, consisting of:

Title page for the manuscript in an unidentified hand: folio 45;

Eight stanzas of poetry numbered 1-8, but with the whole of the third stanza and lines 102-103 in the published version lacking in this manuscript, dated 19 April 1817: folios 47-53;

Manuscript of the first early draft of ‘Werner’, containing only two scenes, with a related article. dated 1815, 1899 and undated, folios 55-74. Byron later created a new version of the work, which was completed and published in 1822. The papers here consist of:

Title page for the manuscript in an unidentified hand: folio 55;

Manuscript of Act I Scene i: folios 57-60;

Manuscript of Act I Scene ii: folios 61-69;

Excerpt from the ‘Nineteenth Century’ of a printed article by Hon Edward Frederick Leveson-Gower entitled 'Did Byron write Werner?', 1899: folios 71-74.