George Gordon Byron

An anniversary book exhibition dedicated to the 225th anniversary from the birth of George Gordon Byron (1788–1824), the English poet-romanticist includes more than 100 editions: poetry collections, critical essays and literature about the life and creative work of the celebrated English poet.

First translations of Byron’s poems appeared in Russia in 1821–1822. These translations, dissipated among various journals and separate editions, stayed inaccessible to the mass reader. Russian literary critic N.V. Gerbel filled this gap. He collected the best works and edited the 4-volume “The Works of Lord Byron in Translations of Russian Poets” (St.-Petersburg, 1874–1877). The poetry of Byron translated by the best Russian writers V. Zhukovsky, А. Pushkin, М. Lermontov, L. Mey, I. Turgenev, N. Gerbel and others were compiled in the edition. Two volumes of the 4th edition of “The Complete Works of Byron in Translations of Russian Poets” (St.-Petersburg, 1894) containing along with the verses letters, articles and conversations are also interesting.

Among modern editions of Byron’s works presented at the exhibition there is a collection “The Altar of Love” (Moscow, 2000) compiled of the best translations by I. Kozlov, D. Min, V. Bryusov, A. Blok.

Most interesting is the biography of Byron created by French writer Anders Maurois specially for the series “Outstanding People’s Life” and first published only in 1952. На выставке A book “Don Juan, or the Life of Byron” republished in 2000 in the series “Outstanding People’s Life” is also on display.

The Russian edition of Leslie A. Marchand’s book “Lord Byron. The Hostage to Passion” (Moscow, 2002) is about the poet’s circle of contacts. The author masterfully depicts the old England and a particular British style absorbed by George Byron from his childhood, gives impressive descriptions of Byron’s journeys to Portugal, Spain, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Italy.

According to Pushkin, Byron was the “Lord of Thoughts” of the time. At present his writings are still relevant. His progressive ideas enriched the world poetry, and his works became an inspiration to many poets of next generations. To present day, Byron’s poetry, filled with the spirit of freedom and truth, rich in profound ideas and arousing noble feelings still excites the human minds guiding them through life.