John Cam Hobhouse (1786-1869) met Lord Byron at Cambridge University and they established a close friendship. They travelled across Europe together, a journey on which Byron began writing 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'. After Lord Byron left Britain for the Continent in 1816, Hobhouse became an important link between the poet and his publisher, John Murray. Byron named Hobhouse as one of his executors and, following the death of the poet in 1824, Hobhouse was heavily influential in shaping the posthumous reputation of Byron. It was through the daughter of Hobhouse, Lady Dorchester, that much of the Byron letters and material came to be in the John Murray Archive.

The letters in this series reflect this close and long-lasting friendship and are full of personal details, as well as important context for the poetry of Lord Byron. Hobhouse was at the centre of negotiations between Murray and Byron and this series of correspondence is therefore vital in understanding the production of the works of Byron, especially after Byron left Britain.

In addition to the correspondence between Hobhouse and Byron, there are also letters to and from John Cam Hobhouse to various correspondents, including Lady Caroline Lamb and Francis Hodgson. This series also includes handwritten copies of many letters between Byron and Hobhouse, as well as some copies of letters of Hobhouse to Emily Cowper, Henry Luttrell and John Murray II.