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Manfred, A Dramatic Poem.
Lord Byron
London, 1817
 
First edition, first issue(with no quotation from Hamlet on the title page and the printer’s imprint on two lines on verso of title page) in original wrappers. Uncut. A couple of stray spots, modicum of chipping to foot of spine with small split at gutters of first two leaves. Small contemporary London bookseller’s label pasted to corner of upper wrapper. An otherworldly Fine copy housed in a red cloth folding chemise case. Ex-libris Frank Brewer Bemis(1861-1935) – the Boston banker bibliophile who amassed one of the finest collections of American and British works, including all four Shakespeare folios.
 
Heavy in supernatural elements, the nobleman Manfred holes up in his Alps castle to cope with torment over his dead love. He summons seven spirits to his aid, and gothic tragedy ensues. Byron wrote it during exile after rumors of an affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and was likely influenced by his nights brainstorming ghost stories with Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley.