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THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON INCLUDING THE SUPPRESSED POEMS. COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME.
(Paris: [Printed by Jules Didot for] A. W. Galignani, 1826). 253 x 162 mm. (10 x 6 1/2"). 3 p.l., [v]-xliii, [1], 716 pp. First Edition thus.
STATELY RED CONTEMPORARY MOROCCO, GILT, BY SIMIER (stamp-signed "Simier R[elieur]. du Roi" at foot of spine, binder's ticket with Rue St. Honoré address on verso of front free endpaper), covers with mitered gilt-rule frame, plumed helmet cornerpieces, blind-stamped lyre at center, raised bands, spine compartments with helmet or weapons-and-olive-branch ornament at center, gilt lettering, gilt-rolled turn-ins, glazed orange endpapers, all edges gilt (old careful repairs to hinges and to front joint). With frontispiece portrait of the poet, in two states. With four-page folded facsimile of handwritten letter from Byron to the Galignani "Messsenger." Spine gently sunned, joints and extremities a bit rubbed, three dark smudges and trivial loss of gilt to lower cover, but the binding solid and still appealing. Fore edge of frontispiece browned and with internal split (not affecting image), another leaf with curving three-inch internal tear from paper defect (minimally affecting text), mild foxing throughout, half a dozen quires somewhat browned, occasional minor stains or rust spots, but nothing approaching a major defect.
This is a copy of the works, complete in one very ample volume, of the leading Romantic poet, offered in a binding by one of the leading binders of the period. René Simier (1772-1843) was praised by Beraldi for the "extreme magnificence" of his books and for having a work ethic that allowed him to surpass "all the most beautiful things the English [binders] have done." Like Beraldi, Ramsden considers Simier one of the three great French binders (with Thouvenin and Purgold) of the Empire and Restoration periods. From 1809-12 he was apparently binder to the Empress Marie Louise, and in 1826 he and his son, Alphonse (who carried on the family business), were listed in the Almanacs as "Binders to the King, Madame, and the Duc de Bordeaux." Simier's "variety and technique were superb; he had no superior and few rivals during his career." And his range was unequaled: "there appears to [have been] no style, old or new, of which he could not make himself an easy and competent master." (Ramsden). Here he has paid tribute to Lord Byron's poetic genius with the lyre centerpiece and nodded to his nobility with the plumed knight's helmets. In 1826, our publisher Galignani issued a Byron-on-the-shelf version of his "Works" as a 13-volume set, containing the identical material as our dramatically more portable Byron-in-bed one-volume edition. (ST19839)
Price: $375.00