Lord Byron jugé par les témoins de sa Vie. [My Recollections of Lord Byron; Those of Eyewitnesses of His Life].

GUICCIOLI, Countess Teresa. Translated by Hubert E. H. Jerningham [Lord Byron].

Lord Byron jugé par les témoins de sa Vie. [My Recollections of Lord Byron; Those of Eyewitnesses of His Life].

"To know another man well, especially if he be a noted and illustrious character, is a great thing not to be despised": Finely bound first edition of the celebrated countess Guiccioli's Recollections of Lord Byron

London: Richard Bentley, 1869.

$400.00

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First edition of Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli's intimate biography of her lover, Lord Byron. Octavo, two volumes bound in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, tissue-guarded tipped-in frontispiece portrait of Lord Byron to Vol. I. In fine condition. An exceptional set.

Teresa, Contessa Guiccioli was the married lover of Lord Byron while he was living in Ravenna and writing the first five cantos of Don Juan. Teresa married an elderly diplomat, Count Alessandro Guiccioli, who was 50 years older than her on January 19, 1818, and three days later met Lord Byron at the home of Countess Albrizzi. Count Guiccioli was a ruthless and opportunistic nobleman who had ingratiated himself with Napoleon during his campaign in Italy in 1796, and during the French rule of Italy during the Napoleonic era, Count Guiccioli held a series of high offices, making him one of the most powerful men in Italy. When France was on the verge of defeat in 1814, Count Guiccioli defected over to the opposing side and came to enjoy power under the Pope, who he had starting out serving before defecting over to Napoleon. A cold, calculating man who had preferred to serve the strong rather than the weak, supporting Napoleon as long as he was winning and switched sides the moment he started losing, Count Guiccioli inspired no love or affection from anyone who knew him. Even Guiccioli's children from his previous marriages denounced their father was a cold, grasping man only interested in money and power.