BYRON, George Gordon.

The Prisoner of Chillon.

London: Day & Son , 1865.

$750.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-152361

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The W. & G. Audsley Illuminated Edition of Lord Byron's The Prisoner of Chillon, with Twenty Beautiful Chromolithographs by W.R. Tymms

The W. & G. Audsley illuminated edition of Lord Byron’s celebrated poem, with striking chromolithographs by W.R. Tymms. Quarto, original publisher's beveled purple cloth elaborately stamped in gilt, 20 leaves of thick paper chromolithographed on the rectos, all edges gilt. In very good condition. A beautiful example of Victorian chromolithography.

The Prisoner of Chillon is a narrative poem written by Lord Byron in 1816, inspired by his visit to the Château de Chillon on the shores of Lake Geneva. Told in the voice of François de Bonivard, it recounts the story of the Genevan patriot imprisoned in the castle’s dungeon for his convictions, a meditation on captivity, endurance, and the yearning for freedom. One of the most admired works of Byron’s Swiss summer of 1816, composed in the same months as the third canto of Childe Harold, the poem became a favorite subject for illustrators. This lavish 1865 edition, illuminated by the architect brothers William and George Audsley and chromolithographed by W.R. Tymms for Day & Son, is among the most beautiful Victorian gift-book renderings of the poem.