Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Byron, Lord George Gordon Noel. Hours of Idleness. S. & J. Ridge, Newark, 1807.
Price: US$800.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, Large Paper (second issue), with half-title. xiii, [i, errata], 187 pp. 8vo (9 x 5-7/8 inches). LARGE PAPER. Byron's first regularly published book, following the privately printed Fugitive Pieces and Poems on Various Occasions. This copy has the second issue points as follows: leaf D3 (i.e., pp 21-22) is not a cancel; p. 114 'Thunder' in spelled correctly; p. 171 numbered as 71; and p. 181 has 'The' correctly printed in the penultimate line. Wise I, p. 8; Randolph, pp. 9-10 (thinks this is a forgery) Almost contemporary plum cloth, text uncut. Covers unevenly toned, few blisters, hinges strengthened. Laid into quarter blue morocco slipcase and chemise xiii, [i, errata], 187 pp. 8vo (9 x 5-7/8 inches) First edition, Large Paper (second issue), with half-title.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$964.78 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: VG+, 1807, 1st ed, 2nd issue. In modern half dark green morocco over marbled boards, some blind tooling. Spine, gilt tooling & titles. Internally, [3], (vi-xiii), [1] errata, [1], 2-187 pp, lacks half title, new endpapers. A very good + copy. (96*158 mm). (Wise V1 p8. Randolph p9 - stating its a forgery. Coleridge p250). This volume was the first volume of poetry published by Lord Byron, in June/July 1807, when he was 19 years old. It is a collection of mostly short poems, many in imitation of classic Roman poets. It consisted of 187 pages with thirty-nine poems. Of these, nineteen came from the original Fugitive Piece volume, while eight had first appeared in Poems on Various Occasions. Twelve were published for the first time. The "Fragment of a Translation from the 9th Book of Virgil's AEneid" was included as "The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus, A Paraphrase from the AEneid, Lib. 9," made up of 406 lines. (Wiki)
Seller: Madoc Books (ABA-ILAB), Llandudno, CONWY, United Kingdom
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: Full green morocco by W. Root with spine decoratively gilt in six panels and boards with triple gilt rectangles and decorative corner pieces. Byron's third published work and first regularly published work containing 40 pieces, 12 of which appear for the first time. Second state with D3 being a cancel leaf. Lacks half-title. Some dark spotting to rear board, joints rubbed, still a handsome copy.
Seller: THE HERMITAGE BOOKSHOP, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition, first issue. (Correct watermark and all textual points mentioned by Randolph, Studies for Byron Bibliography.) xiii + errata page, 187 pp. Modern brown quarter calf period style, marbled paper sides, red morocco label with gilt rules, decorations, and lettering. Half-title present. Very Good with light occasional foxing.The first appearance of the book that brought young Lord Byron into the public eye, dismissed though it was by the Edinburgh Review as unremarkable juvenile verse, "effusions . spread over a dead flat," declaring to its readers "See how a minor can write!" Byron would indeed show them. He responded with his first satire English Bards and Scotch Reviewers in 1809.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: With all first issue points, and errata. 8vo. 18.5 by 11.5 cm. xiii, [1], 187 pp. Modern full calf binding sympathetic to period binding,with gilt decoration on spine and boards, marbled endpapers. Condition: early leaves have light foxing, after which, occasional light foxing and soiling, but overall, we would consider this a clean and fresh copy.
Seller: White Fox Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Description: 2 blank leaves + TP + [v]-x = Preface + [xi]-xiii = Contents + [xiv] = Errata + [1]-187 + 2 blank leaves, Crown Octavo. First Edition, First Issue. Wise Vol. 1, p. 7.The first printing of Byron's first regularly published book, his 'juvenilia' rearranged from the privately-printed Fugitive Pieces and Poems of Various Occasions. It omits twenty of the original poems and adds twelve new ones. The first edition may be distinguished from the deceptive 'large-paper' demy-octavo reprint (also the work of the ubiquitous Ridges) by the two typographical errors on p. 114, l. 4 ("thnnder") and p. 181, l. 21 ("Thc") and sometimes (but not always) by the correct numbering of p. 171 as here. A further defining point of the first edition (and the one which established the priority of this issue) is also present: the cancellation of D3 (p. 22) with the correct reading in the second line of the poem: "Those tissues of falsehood which Folly has wove" and no footnote. Watermarked "Li" and "1806" as called for. Without the half-title. Lovely 19th-century full calf binding with gilt borders to front and back covers. Spine with five bands and ornately gilt compartments. Red morocco label on spine. Turquoise blue endpapers and all edges gilt. A lovely copy of Byron's first regularly published book. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
Seller: Athena Rare Books ABAA, Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$3250.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A first edition, first issue of Byron's first published book of collected poems. The book appeared in London bookstores when Byron was just 19 years old to somewhat scathing critical review. The work apparently considered quite pedestrian by all accounts nevertheless is an early milestone in the poets life and career. Byron's poetical response to this criticism was to bring him recognition in the eyes of many, providing an audience for future work. This copy with the cancel leaf (p.21-22), has "thnnder" (p 114), has "Thc" on (p. 181), correct watermark "1806" (p. ix), has "where" twice (p.5), has "Those tissues of falsehood which Folly has wove", no footnote (p.22) and contains the 1/2 title. Finely bound in full morocco signed Root & Son with decorative gilt floral motif on front board and spine, single gilt rule line on rear board; bookplates of Walter Thomas Wallace and Lucius Wilmerding on front paste down and fly. Front board has been professionally reattached. This copy is very clean with no foxing or annotation, very slight toning of pages from edges in, only fault is a small 1/8" hole in the paper of page 9.
Seller: Charles Thomas Bookseller, Stratham, NH, U.S.A.
Price: US$9000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue. [xiv], 187 pp. 1 vols. 8vo (7 x 4.5 in.). Presentation Copy to a Harrow Friend. Byron's first regularly published book, following the privately printed Fugitive Pieces and Poems on Various Occasions. Inscribed on a front flyleaf by the recipient: "The gift of Lord Byron, James Wynne De Bathe. September 1807. London." De Bathe (1792-1828) attended Harrow with Byron and was included in the circle of his closest friends: "Clare, Dorset, Charles Gordon, De Bathe, Claridge, and John Wingfield, were my juniors and favourites, whom I spoilt by indulgence" (Life, p. 21). Byron's affection for his schoolmates is celebrated in "Childish Recollections," printed here at page 148. In a letter of 2 February 1808, Byron writes to De Bathe to reminisce about Harrow and announce his upcoming tour of Greece and Turkey, extending a playful invitation to his friend: "What say you? are you disposed for a view of the Peloponnesus and a voyage through the Archipelago?" We trace only one other association copy of Hours of Idleness - a copy inscribed to Edward Noel Long was sold by Sotheby's in 1976. Wise Byron, I, pp. 7-8; Hayward 218; Randolph, p. 9. Provenance: James Wynne de Bathe (inscription noting presentation from Byron); Henry P. de Bathe (bookplate) Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, a.e.g. Front hinge tender starting, front free endpaper removed, else fine [xiv], 187 pp. 1 vols. 8vo (7 x 4.5 in.)
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.