Byron’s uncle Fred the Caricaturist
Byron's uncle Frederick George was a satirical cartoonist in the 1780s and early 1790s
Category: Byron
Publishing poetry: Annotated Cantos I + II of Don Juan
This is tech-y, ‘sausage factory’ stuff about the challenge of publishing poetry. You don’t need to know any of this to enjoy Don Juan and my notes on Byr...
What is in the Annotated Don Juan Cantos I + II?
In a couple of weeks I’ll be publishing my Annotated Cantos I + II to celebrate the 200th anniversary of their first publication in 1819. What can you expect to...
An announcement
To celebrate the bicentenary of the first publication of Byron’s “Don Juan” on 15 July 1819, I’ll be releasing an annotated and narrated version of Cantos I + I...
Death in Don Juan
If Don Juan is lots of fun, as I claim, why does death figure in it so frequently?
Don Juan: The Greatest Comic Poem in English
Why isn't Don Juan more widely read? I examine three reasons in this series of posts and then suggest some remedies.
In defence of annotation
There is something rather odd about annotating poetry
Bad Lord Byron
You know, of course, that there’s a lot of pathetic rubbish that pretends to be a Byronic document, hoping to borrow a little of the popular lustre ...
Skin in the Game
John Murray’s recommendations to Byron deserve more respect as evidence of the publishing environment and not just of his own disposition. After all, he had “sk...
Don Juan sells despite Murray’s fears
When Cantos I and II of Don Juan were being prepared for the press, it was chiefly Murray’s advisers — especially Gifford — who kept up the lament about “...