# Is "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" by Lord Byron a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron (John Murray, with William Blackwood, 1812) is identified by: First edition, quarto, an edition of 500 copies that sold out within days of publication in March 1812, printed by Thomas Davison. Murray issued a second, octavo edition only weeks later, on 17 April 1812, with six additional poems, and further editions followed within the same year and over the next several years as the poem's fame grew.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, quarto, an edition of 500 copies that sold out within days of publication in March 1812, printed by Thomas Davison
- Contains Cantos I and II with Byron's explanatory notes, fourteen additional shorter poems, and an appendix on Romaic (modern Greek) language and literature drawn from his recent travels
- The title page carries a French epigraph from Le Cosmopolite, ou le Citoyen du Monde; the quarto was illustrated with a portrait after Richard Westall
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray, with William Blackwood
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Lord Byron |
| Publisher | John Murray, with William Blackwood |
| Year | 1812 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First edition, quarto, an edition of 500 copies that sold out within days of publication in March 1812, printed by Thomas Davison |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, quarto, an edition of 500 copies that sold out within days of publication in March 1812, printed by Thomas Davison. Contains Cantos I and II with Byron's explanatory notes, fourteen additional shorter poems, and an appendix on Romaic (modern Greek) language and literature drawn from his recent travels. The title page carries a French epigraph from Le Cosmopolite, ou le Citoyen du Monde; the quarto was illustrated with a portrait after Richard Westall.

## Is this the true first?
Murray issued a second, octavo edition only weeks later, on 17 April 1812, with six additional poems, and further editions followed within the same year and over the next several years as the poem's fame grew. Only the original 500-copy quarto of March 1812, containing just Cantos I-II, is the true first edition; format and content must both be checked, not merely the "Murray, 1812" imprint.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Because Childe Harold went through numerous printings within 1812 alone and further editions after Cantos III and IV appeared (1816 and 1818), a first-edition copy must be the two-canto March 1812 quarto; octavo copies, or copies containing more than two cantos, are later states or the later four-canto collected editions.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Childe Harold's Pilgrimage* by Lord Byron a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/childe-harolds-pilgrimage
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.