Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812) launched the young poet into instant stardom, leading to his reputation for centuries as the world best poet. In Byron’s words, “I awoke one morning and found myself famous.” It consists of four cantos. John Murray was Byron's publisher, raising their reputation to publish renowned works by Jane Austen and Washington Irving. That same firm is responsible for burning the personal memoirs of Byron the month after his death in 1824, against the directives of Byron's literary executor, Irish author Thomas Moore. The John Murray firm burned the contents of these diaries, whose contents the world will never know.
Return to the Lord Byron library.