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BYRON, George Noel Gordon, Baron.. Sardanapalus, a tragedy. The Two Foscari, a tragedy. Cain, a mystery.. John Murray. 1821, 1821.

Price: US$114.36 + shipping

Description: FIRST EDITION, variant B. Half title, 8pp cata. (July, 1821); title sl. torn due to careless opening, lacking leading f.e.p. Uncut in orig. drab boards, paper label sl. chipped; hinges split but sound, spine worn & chipped at head & tail. Randolph p.75; Wise II.32. Randolph's second variant with 'Sardanapalus/A Tragedy' on fly title.

Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom

BYRON, George Noel Gordon, Baron.. Sardanapalus, a tragedy. The Two Foscari, a tragedy. Cain, a mystery.. John Murray. 1821, 1821.

Price: US$122.16 + shipping

Description: FIRST EDITION, variant A. Half title. Uncut in appropriate but later drab boards; sympathetically rebacked, both pastedowns replaced. Randolph p.75; Wise II.32. Randolph's first variant with 'Sardanapalus' on fly title.

Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom

Byron George Gordon Noel, Lord. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy; The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. ; Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$125.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Contemporary calf, moderate edgewear, corners rounded, rebacked, date to front blank, old Atwood armorial bookplate inside cover, title page slightly adhered to endpaper in the gutter; generally quite bright and clean internally. 439pp bound without the half title. Size: Octavo (8vo). Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: Literature & Literary; Poetry. Inventory No: 047080.

Seller: Pazzo Books, Boston, MA, U.S.A.

Byron, George Gordon Noel, Lord. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy; The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. ; Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$150.00 + shipping

Description: First edition. 1 vols. 8vo. Wise "Byron" II, p. 32 Later half burgundy morocco. Upper cover detached, some chipping to head of spine, light spotting of text, else a good copy

Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.

Byron, Lord (George Gordon). Sardanapalus, A Tragedy; The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. ; Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$150.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, issue with "Sardanapalus/ A Tragedy". 1 vols. 8vo. Byron's tragic poem based upon the Greek version of the myth of Sardanapalus, the last Assyrian King. Byron's addition to the myth was a favorite devoted slave-girl who helped Sardanapalus and at the end throws herself on Sardanapalus' pyre. Randolph p. 75; Wise "Byron" II, p. 32 Later half burgundy morocco. Upper cover detached, some chipping to head of spine, light spotting of text First edition, issue with "Sardanapalus/ A Tragedy".

Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.

BYRON Lord (George Gordon Noel). Sardanapalus, A Tragedy; The Two Foscari, A Tragedy; Cain, A Mystery. John Murray 1821, 1821.

Price: US$181.94 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: later paper boards, paper label, spine bumped, near fine; first edition; 439 pages

Seller: Tiger books, Canterbury, United Kingdom

Byron, Lord (George Gordon). Sardanapalus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, a Tragedy. Cain, a Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$250.00 + shipping

Description: First edition. viii, 439pp. 1 vols. 8vo. UNCUT. Wise, pp. 72-73 Modern half brown morocco, uncut. Fine

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron (1788-1824). Sardanapalus : a tragedy. ; The two Foscari, a tragedy. ; Cain, a mystery / By Lord Byron. London : John Murray, 1821.

Price: US$250.59 + shipping

Description: Finely bound in modern aniline calf over marble boards. Very impressively finished. Raised bands and gilt blocking to spine, with a modern gilt-blocked leather title label. New endpapers. Pages are in a very good and clean condition, with just some light foxing evident around the prelims. and end pages. Some light yellowing noticeable around the page edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Further scans, images etc. and additional bibliographical material available on request.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 439 pages; Physical description: viii, 439p. 23.5cm. Subjects: Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, active 668 B.C.-627 B.C. -- Drama -- English literature. Referenced by: Stratman 847. Referenced by: Wise, T. J. II, 32. Issue point: the word "Sardanapalus" appears without subtitle on the half-title. 1 Kg.

Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland

Byron, Lord. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy / The Two Foscari, An Historical Tragedy / Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$275.00 + shipping

Description: Quarto (9 1/4 x 5 3/4"). Later 19th-century paper covered boards, with printed title on spine. Tipped in on inside of back cover by the binder, three unused original printed labels for the book. First edition, first state of Lord Byron's three dramatic plays drawing on ancient lore and biblical accounts. - "Sardanapalus" (1821) is a historical tragedy in blank verse set in ancient Nineveh and recounting the fall of the Assyrian monarchy and its supposed last king. It draws its story mainly from the "Historical Library of Diodorus Siculus" and from William Mitford's "History of Greece." Byron wrote the play during his stay in Ravenna, and dedicated it to Goethe. It has had an extensive influence on European culture, inspiring a painting by Delacroix and musical works by Berlioz, Liszt and Ravel, among others. "Sardanapalus" was written while the author was living in Ravenna with his lover, Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, and is sometimes seen as portraying the Countess and Byron himself in the characters of Myrrha and Sardanapalus. Murray published Sardanapalus on 19 December 1821 in the same volume with "The Two Foscari" and "Cain." Byron's intended dedication of the play to Goethe was omitted, but it did finally appear in the edition of 1829. - "The Two Foscari: An Historical Tragedy" (1821) is a verse play in five acts. The plot, set in Venice in the mid 15th century, is loosely based on the true story of the downfall of doge Francesco Foscari and his son Jacopo. Byron's play formed the basis of Verdi's opera "I due Foscari." Byron wrote "The Two Foscari" in Ravenna in less than a month, between June 12, and July 9, 1821. It was published by John Murray on December 19, 1821 in the same volume as his "Sardanapalus" and "Cain." Byron originally intended to dedicate "The Two Foscari" to his friend Sir Walter Scott, but in the event he transferred that dedication to Cain and left Foscari without one. He added an appendix to "The Two Foscari" in which he launched a stinging attack on what he considered the hypocrisies of the Poet Laureate, Robert Southey. Southey responded in a letter to a London newspaper in which he dared Byron to attack him again. Byron initially wanted to challenge Southey to a duel, but then turned instead to poetry and wrote his stinging satire "The Vision of Judgment." - In "Cain," Lord Byron dramatizes the story of Cain and Abel from Cain's point of view. "Cain" is an example of the literary genre known as closet drama. As Byron himself notes in the preface to "Cain," Cain's vision in Act II was inspired by the theory of catastrophism. In an attempt to explain large gaps in the fossil record, catastrophists posited that the history of the Earth was punctuated with violent upheavals that had destroyed its flora and fauna. Byron read about catastrophism in an 1813 English translation of some early work by French natural historian Georges Cuvier. Other influences include "The Divine Legation of Moses" by William Warburton and "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" by Edmund Burke. Binding sunned along spine. Lower front corner bumped (not affecting pages throughout). Offsetting to endpapers. Minor and sporadic foxing throughout. Clear water-staining at upper right corner of pages from page 421 on. Binding in overall good-, interior in good to very good condition.

Seller: ERIC CHAIM KLINE, BOOKSELLER (ABAA ILAB), Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.

George Gordon, Lord Byron. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy / The Two Foscari, A Tragedy / Cain, A Mystery. London: John Murray, 1821.

Price: US$275.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: First edition, second state with "A Tragedy" on the fly title. 8vo. 439 pp. Pagination: ffep, title, contents, preface (2 pp), Sardanapalus (p.1-167), notes to Sardanapalus from p.171-173); The Two Foscari (pp.175-301), appendix for Foscari from p. 303-329; Cain (pp.331-439), unnumbered blank, and rear blank end paper. Leather spine and corners, marbled paper over boards. Rear cover is detached. Wear to the covers and spine. Age-related spotting on some pages at the front and at the rear.

Seller: Peter Keisogloff Rare Books, Inc., Brecksville, OH, U.S.A.

Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron (1788-1824). Sardanapalus : a tragedy. ; The two Foscari, a tragedy. ; Cain, a mystery / By Lord Byron. London : John Murray, 1821.

Price: US$280.00 + shipping

Description: Finely bound in modern aniline calf over marble boards. Very impressively finished. Raised bands and gilt blocking to spine, with a modern gilt-blocked leather title label. New endpapers. Pages are in a very good and clean condition, with just some light foxing evident around the prelims. and end pages. Some light yellowing noticeable around the page edges. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Further scans, images etc. and additional bibliographical material available on request.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 439 pages; Physical description: viii, 439p. 23.5cm. Subjects: Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, active 668 B.C.-627 B.C. -- Drama -- English literature. Referenced by: Stratman 847. Referenced by: Wise, T. J. II, 32. Issue point: the word "Sardanapalus" appears without subtitle on the half-title. 1 Kg.

Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Byron, George Gordon, Lord. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$290.00 + shipping

Description: 439 pages. 23 x 15.5 cm. With half and bastard titles. WISE. II p.32-33. Scattered, intermittent foxing mostly marginal, raised bands, black leather spine label printed in gilt. Late 19th century quarter brown calf and marbled boards. Fine

Seller: Royoung Bookseller, Inc. ABAA, Ardsley, NY, U.S.A.

Byron, Lord (George Gordon). Sardanapalus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, a Tragedy. Cain, a Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$300.00 + shipping

Description: First edition. viii, 439pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Wise, II, pp. 32-3 Uncut in the original boards, rebacked with rose-colored paper. Slight foxing, else fine

Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.

BYRON, [George Gordon, sixth Baron] [1788-1824].. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery.. London: John Murray, 1821., 1821.

Price: US$305.25 + shipping

Description: 8vo. pp. viii, 439. with half-title. contemporary half calf (extremities rubbed, occasional light foxing, dampstaining to inner margin of outer leaves). First Edition, issue with B1 reading ‘Sardanapalus, A Tragedy’. NCBEL III 288. Randolph p. 75. Wise II p. 32.

Seller: D & E LAKE LTD. (ABAC/ILAB), Toronto, ON, Canada

Byron, Lord (George Gordon). Sardanapalus, A Tragedy / The Two Foscari, A Tragedy / Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$436.73 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: FIRST EDITION. The second state, with the fly-title printed as "Sardanapalus, a Tragedy" (rather than simply "Sardanapalus" for the first state, with no precedent for either variant). Contains three dramatic plays by Lord Byron, drawing on ancient lore & biblical accounts. Pagination continues throughout. Full pagination as follows: ffep, [blank], title page, contents, preface (2pp), Sardanapalus (p.1-167), notes (to Sardanapalus) (p.171-173), The Two Foscari (p.175-301), appendix (p.303-329), Cain (p.331-439), [blank], endpaper. Printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars, London. Bound in contemporary green half-leather & marbled boards, raised bands, elaborate gilt design in compartments to spine, gilt-lettered brown leather label to spine, all edges flecked. Lacking small portion of band at lower spine (1 x 1.5cm), mild wear to spine ends, boards slightly worn (mainly tips & edges), former owner's armorial bookplate to front pastedown, ink name to ffep, otherwise a very nice clean tight solid leatherbound copy. 439pp.

Seller: Bookwood, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Byron, [George Gordon] Lord. Sardanapalus, A Tragedy - The Two Foscari, A Tragedy - Cain, A Mystery. John Murray, London, 1821.

Price: US$500.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo, viii, 439pp; original cloth-backed boards with publisher's paper spine label. An untrimmed copy in publisher's boards, half title present, with armorial Rycroft bookplate on the front pastedown and, above it, the small leather label of writer and dramatist Alfred Sutro (the leather has left a mark of offsetting on the facing blank leaf). One of Sutro's last books was a musing on Byron's name, printed by the Grabhorn Press in 1932. Two bookplates; scattered spots of foxing; edge wear and soil to covers; edges of label rubbed, with loss of one corner affecting the first letter of the title

Seller: Locus Solus Rare Books (ABAA, ILAB), Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.