The Works of Lord Byron - Volume III Part 18
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Volume III Part 18

Murray's possession. At the end of July, and during the first half of August, two or more issues of a third edition were set up in type. The first issue amounted to 53 pages, containing 950 lines, was certainly published in this form, and possibly a second issue of 56 pages, containing 1004 lines, may have followed at a brief interval. A revise of this second issue, dated August 13, is extant. In the last fortnight of August a fourth edition of 58 pages, containing 1048 lines, undoubtedly saw the light. Scarcely more than a few days can have elapsed before a fifth edition of 66 pages, containing 1215 lines, was ready to supplant the fourth edition. A sixth edition, a reproduction of the fifth, may have appeared in October. A seventh edition of 75 pages, containing 1334 lines, which presented the poem in its final shape, was issued subsequently to November 27, 1813 (a seventh edition was advertised in the _Morning Chronicle_, December 22, 1813), the date of the last revise, or of an advance copy of the issue. The ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth editions belong to 1814, while a fourteenth edition is known to have been issued in 1815. In that year and henceforward the _Giaour_ was included in the various collected editions of Byron's works. The subjoined table a.s.signs to their several editions the successive accretions in their order as now published:--

Lines. _Giaour_. Edition of----

1--6. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

7--20. Second edition. [47 pages, 816 lines.] Approximate date, June 24, 1813.

21--45. Third edition. [53 pages, 950 lines.] July 30, 1813.

46--102. Second edition.

103--167. Fifth edition. [66 pages, 1215 lines.] August 25, 1813.

168--199. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

200--250. Third edition.

251--252. Seventh edition. [75 pages, 1334 lines.] November 27, 1813.

253--276. Third edition.

277--287. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

288--351. Third edition. (Second issue?) August 11, 1813.

[56 pages, 1004,? 1014 lines.]

352--503. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

504--518. Third edition.

519--619. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

620--654. Second edition.

655--688. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._

689--722. Fourth edition. [58 pages, 1048 lines.] August 19.

723--737. _MS. First edition of 28 pages._ 733-4 not in the MS., but in First edition of 28 pages.

738--745. _First edition of_ 41 _pages_. June 5, 1813.

746--786. First edition of 28 pages. Not in the MS.

787--831. _MS. First edition of 28 pages_.

832--915. Seventh edition.

916--998. _First edition of 41 pages_.

937-970 no MS.

999--1023. Second edition.

1024--1028. Seventh edition.

1029--1079. _First edition of 41 pages_.

1080--1098. Third edition.

1099--1125. _First edition of 41 pages_.

1126--1130. Seventh edition.

1131--1191. Fifth edition.

1192--1217. Seventh edition.

1218--1256. Fifth edition.

1257--1318. _First edition of 41 pages_.

1319--1334. _MS. First edition of 28 pages_.

NOTE.

The first edition is advertised in the _Morning Chronicle_, June 5; a third edition on August 11, 13, 16, 31; a fifth edition, with considerable additions, on September 11; on November 29 a "new edition;"

and on December 27, 1813, a seventh edition, together with a repeated notice of the _Bride of Abydos_. These dates do not exactly correspond with Murray's contemporary memoranda of the dates of the successive issues.

To

SAMUEL ROGERS, ESQ.

as a slight but most sincere token

of admiration of his genius,

respect for his character,

and grat.i.tude for his friendship,

THIS PRODUCTION IS INSCRIBED

by his obliged

and affectionate servant,