Byron, George Gordon Noel, Lord

broadside (400 x 266mm.), AUTHORSHIP NOTED ("Lord Byron 1816") IN THE HAND OF LOUIS PHILLIPPE, coloured engraving by George Cruikshank, poem printed in double columns, collector's folder, traces of former mount on reverse

Louis Philippe I; Baron Jean-Henri Hottinguer

B.M. Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires 12827; Cohn 971

Byron, after separating from his wife Annabella, famously wrote two poems in March 1816: 'Fare thee well' and 'A Sketch from Private Life'. At Byron's request both were printed for private circulation by John Murray; copies of these are now virtually impossible to acquire. Both poems also appeared in the Champion on 14 April, accompanied by disparaging comment. This undated broadside probably appeared shortly afterwards.

Byron then left England on 24 April and would never return. He left with Dr Polidori and three servants. The scene, as rendered here by George Cruikshank, shows Byron accompanied by Drury Lane actresses. Byron's estranged wife, babe in arms, can be seen left abandoned on the shore.

This copy carries an authorship attribution in the hand of Louis Philippe I (1773-1850), while Duke of Orléans. The broadside subsequently formed part of the Bibliotheque du Roi at Neuilly and was bought in the library sale in 1852 by Baron Jean-Henri Hottinguer (1803-1866). It was Baron Hottinguer who identified Louis Philippe I's hand.