Obj. ID: 40670  Works of Lord Byron, London, 1823

This text was prepared by William Gross:

The works of the famous English poet, lord Byron, were widely published in many editions. This book is one of a five volume set of his works published in early 19th century England. This volume is largely comprised of his series of poems entitled "Hebrew Melodies". Appropriate to the contents is an unusual fore-edge painting of a contemporary view of Jerusalem. This wonderful and little known technique consisted of making a painting on the front edge of the book pages when they were fanned out as seen here as the book is displayed. When those painted pages return to the closed state, only the gilded edges are visible. The painting appears only when the pages are again fanned. The unusual practice fell out of favor already in the 19th century. To find such an example of Jewish interest is extremely rare and that is especially true regarding its connection to the text of the book on whose fore-edge the painting is made.
292 pp.