There are here two volumes.

The first contains a number of manuscripts of the poetry of Byron, with some correspondence of and to Byron.

The content has been listed in the order in which it appears in the volume. For poetical works, first lines are given in brackets after the title of the poem. The manuscripts are in the hand of Byron unless otherwise stated; pencil notes are in an unidentified hand.

‘Lord Byron: Complete poetical works’, edited by Jermone McGann, has been used in some of the following descriptions – where his titles differ from the manuscripts these have been given in square brackets.

Where a folio is described as blank, this excludes the mention of pencil foliation in the top right corner.

Manuscript draft of an untitled poem [entitled ‘Translation from Vittorelli. On a Nun.’ In McGann] (“Of two fair virgins…”) from ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’, Canto IV, with corrections, undated [1817]: folio 1;

[folios 2-3 are blank, folio 4 only has a small pencil annotation of the number ‘8’]

Manuscript copy of a poem in Spanish entitled ‘Romance muy Doloroso del sitio y toma de Alhama’, which was the basis for ‘Siege and Conquest of Alhama’, in an unidentified hand, undated: folios 5-8;

Manuscript fair copy of untitled poem [entitled ‘Francesca of Rimini: Translation from the Inferno of Danto, Canto 5] (“The Land where I was born sits by the sea…” in the hand of Teresa Guiccioli, 20 March 1820: folios 9-10;

Manuscript transcript entitled ‘To the Po’ (“River! That rollest by the antient walls”) in the hand of Teresa Guiccioli, dated 1819, but probably made between 1827 and 1829 from a copy made by Mary Shelley in 1822: folios 11-12;

Manuscript transcript of five stanzas [numbered 1-5 in the manuscript transcript but 1-2 and 4-6 in McGann] of untitled poem (“Could love forever…”) in the hand of Teresa Guiccioli, sent to Thomas Moore sometime between 1827 and 1831: folios 13-14;

Manuscript fair copy of untitled poem [entitled ‘Stanzas to a Hindoo Air’ in McGann] (“Oh! my lonely – lonely – lonely pillow!...”) in the hand of Mary Shelley, February 1822: folio 15v;

[folios 16-17 are blank except some pencil annotations relating to folios 5-15]

Manuscript fair copy of an untitled poem [entitled ‘Ode to a Lady whose lover was killed by a ball, which at the same time shivered a portrait next his heart’’ in McGann] (“Lady! In whose heroic port…”) with corrections, undated [1820]: folios 18-20

Manuscript draft of lines 68-84 of an untitled poem [entitled ‘Ode to a Lody whose lover was killed by a ball, which at the same time shivered a portrait next his heart’’ in McGann] (“Lady! In whose heroic port…”) with many additions and deletions, undated [?1820]: folios 21-22

[folio 23 is blank except for pencil annotations relating to folios 18-22]

Manuscript draft of an untitled poem [entitled ‘To Teresa Guiccioli’ in McGann] (“I saw thee smile upon another…”), with additions and deletions, undated [?1819-20]: folio 24;

[folio 25 is blank except for pencil annotations relating to folio 24; folio 25 is blank except for a pencil annotation reading ‘16’]

Manuscript draft of a poem entitled ‘On Southey - Detached Thoughts’ (“With you I have nought in common, nor would have …”) with corrections, undated [?1822]: folio 27;

[folio 28 is blank]

Manuscript draft of a poem entitled ‘Venice’ (“Tis midnight, but it is not dark…”) with corrections, 5 December 1816: folio 29;

[folio 30 is blank except for pencil annotations relating to folio 29]

Manuscript draft of a poem entitled ‘Ballad to the Tune of Sally in our Alley’ (“Of all the twice then thousand bards…”) lacking the final stanza, undated [1818]: folios 31-32r;

Manuscript draft of a poem entitled ‘Another Simple Ballat’ (“Mrs. Wilmot sate scribbling a play…”), undated [1818]: folios 32v-33;

[folio 34 is blank except for a pencil annotation reading ’19 & 20’]

Manuscript draft entitled ‘Question’ [titled ‘Question and Answer' in McGann, also known as ‘Lord Byron’s Verses on Sam Rodgers’] (“Nose and chin that make a knocker…”), with additions and deletions, 1818: folios 35-36;

Pencil note in regarding relocation of poem ‘Dr Nott’ to another manuscript: folio 37;

Pencil note regarding relocation of poem ‘‘E Nihilo Nihil’ to another manuscript (see MS.43348 ff.45-46), 1973: folio 38;

Manuscript draft of an untitled poem [named ‘Lucietta. A Fragment’ in McGann] (“Lucietta my dear…”) with corrections, undated [?1811]: folio 39;

[folio 40 is blank]

Pencil note regarding relocation of extra stanzas for insertion in Canto I of Don Juan (possibly ‘the Brougham stanzas’) to another manuscript: folio 41;

Letter of Byron to Anne Isabella Noel Byron, Lady Byron, Venice, 5 March 1817: folios 42-43;

Letter of Byron to Anne Isabella Noel Byron, Lady Byron, Venice, 18 November 1818: folios 44-45;

[folios 46-51 are blank or only contain pencil notes on relocation of poems and letters]

Letter of Henry Richard Vassall Fox, Lord Holland, to Lord Byron, 8 January 1819: folios 52-55;

Letter of Henry Richard Vassall Fox, Lord Holland, to Lord Byron, 9 March [1818]: folios 56-61;

[folio 62 is blank except for some pencil notes relating to folios 52-61]

Letter of Sir Walter Scott to Lord Byron, 26 June 1822: folio 63-64;

Typescript transcript of letter of Walter Scott to Lord Byron, 26 June 1822: folios 65-66;

[folio 67 is blank except some pencil notes relating to folios 63-64]

Letter of Samuel Rogers to Lord Byron, 8 February 1818: folios: 68-69;

Pencil note regarding relocation of letter of Thomas Moore to Lord Byron, 8 July 1822 to other Moore letters now (MS.43485 ff.46-47): folio 70

Letter of John Sheppard to Lord Byron, 21 November 1821: folios 71-72;

[folio 73 is blank except for a pencil annotation reading ‘56’]

Anonymous letter to Lord Byron signed ‘An Anonymous Friend’, Rome, 19 April 1822: folios 74-75;

[folio 76 is blank except a pencil annotation reading ‘57’]

Anonymous letter, signed ‘Amicus’, to Lord Byron, Cheltenham, 19 February [1819]: folios 77-78

[folio 79 is blank except a pencil annotation reading ‘58’]

Letter, signed ‘Isabel’ [or Ysabel – possibly the same correspondent as at Ms.43512 ff.140-141], to Lord Byron, London, 1 June [?1812]: folios 80-83;

[folio 84 is blank except for a pencil annotation reading ‘59’]

Letter of Sir Francis Burdett to Douglas Kinnaird, undated [?1816]: folio 85;

[folio 86 is blank except brief pencil notes relating to folio 85]

Letter of introduction of Anne Louise Germaine Stael-Holsein, Madame de Stael, for an unknown General, with an additional passage probably of Albertine Ida Gustavine de Stael-Holstein Broglie, Duchesse de Broglie, 1816: folios 87-88;

[folio 88A is blank except some pencil notes relating to folios 87-88]

Manuscript copy of an untitled poem [entitled ‘The Charity Ball’ in McGann] (“What matter the pangs of a husband and father…”), in an unidentified hand, undated [1820]: folio 89;

[folio 90 is blank except for some pencil notes].

This is the end of the first volume.



The second volume here is a manuscript entitled ‘Lord Byron’s M.S.S. of published pieces’. This is largely a manuscript catalogue that describes various manuscripts of poetry and correspondence of Byron, including many featured in the first volume here. The pencil annotations of numbers found on folios within the main volume relate to the information contained within this manuscript catalogue.

This manuscript catalogue is into sections:

‘I. Lord Byron’s M.S.S. of published pieces’: folios 91-95;

‘II. Madame Guiccioli’s M.S.S. of published pieces’: folio 96;

‘III. Ld Byron’s M.S.S. of unpublished pieces’: folios 97-101;

Inserted folios entitled ‘Extracts illustrative of the MSS from Moore’s Life of Byron, Medwin’s Life of Shelley, Hunt’s Ld Byron and his Contemporaries, Medwin’s Conversations and Lockhart’s Life of Scott’: folios 102-111;

‘IV. Lord Byron’s letters to Mr Barry of Genoa’: folios 112-114;

‘V. Letters to Ld Byron from the following’, (correspondents are then listed over the following folios as P.B. Shelley, Lord Holland, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Moore, Samuel Rogers, John Sheppard, an anonymous friend, Amicus, Isabel, Sir Francis Burdett, Madame de Stael and John Cam Hobhouse): folios 115-119;

‘VI. Letters from Sir J. C. Hobhouse to Mr Barry on the subject of these M.S.S.’: folio 120-121r;

‘VII. Copy of Lines on a Charity Ball - as taken from the original M.S.’: folio 121v.