AUGUSTA LEIGH: BYRON'S HALF-SISTER: A BIOGRAPHY

Michael Bakewell, Melissa Bakewell

ISBN 10: 0185619754 / ISBN 13: 9780185619754

Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 2000

About this Item

First impression of the first UK edition with full number-string sequence including the no. "1": 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1. ***Illustrated with black and white photographs. ***Near fine in dark blue cloth-covered boards with silver titles to spine. Dark blue front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns. No inscriptions. No foxing. Pages clean. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour-illustrated dustwrapper that has not been price-clipped, showing original publisher's price of £25.00. Edges of dustwrapper slightly rubbed and creased. Corners of dustwrapper slightly rubbed. No tears. Spine and rear and front panels of dustwrapper bright. ***242mm x 158mm. 438 pages including notes and index to rear, plus acknowledgments. ***'Augusta Leigh was the child of one of the most sensational scandals to hit Georgian England - the seduction of the wilful and beautiful Marchioness of Carmarthen by 'Mad Jack' Byron - and scandal, of one kind or another was to pursue Augusta for the rest of her life and even beyond her grave. ***Her marriage to her cousin, equerry and companion of the Prince of Wales, Colonel George Leigh, who fell from grace when it came to light that he had cheated the Prince over the sale of a horse, and fiddled regimental accounts to fund his gambling habit, brought her nothing but poverty and seven children. Her love affair with her half-brother Lord Byron, was largely responsible for his separation from his wife and his subsequent exile. Lady Byron, determined that Augusta's incestuous liaison should not go unpunished, waged a relentless war of attrition against her, in which Augusta's daughter, Elizabeth Medora, also became entangled. ***This is the first biography of Augusta Leigh for over thirty years, and draws on a wealth of new material from archives all over the country. It sheds new light not only on this remarkable and courageous woman, but on Georgian and Regency society and the life of the Court.' (Quote from inside front of dustwrapper blurb). ***First impression of the true first edition in its original dustwrapper in very nice, fine bright condition. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc.

Seller Inventory # 6599

Bibliographic Details

• Title: AUGUSTA LEIGH: BYRON'S HALF-SISTER: A BIOGRAPHY
• Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0185619754
• ISBN 13: 9780185619754
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Editions
  • Political & Social History
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

The first biography of Augusta Leigh for over thirty years, this fascinating account draws on a wealth of new material from archives all over the country. It sheds new light not only on this remarkable and courageous woman, but on Georgian and Regency society and the life of the Court.

Review

Augusta Leigh lived, in the words of the old Chinese curse, through interesting times. The daughter of one of the most scandalous affairs of the 18th century, Augusta herself married the horse-mad Lieutenant-Colonel George Leigh, equerry and companion of the Prince of Wales. Leigh gambled and cheated, falling from grace into poverty and taking his wife and seven children with him. But it is Augusta's subsequent love affair with her half-brother, Byron the poet, that constitutes the most remarkable adventure of her life. This incestuous passion is one of the most famous, or notorious, in literary history: it led to the collapse of Byron's marriage and his exile from England, and remains a scandal even to this day. Byron's wife, Annabella, was a mild-mannered intellectual woman with a taste for mathematics; but she was driven to distracted jealousy by her husband's incestuous liaison and declared of Augusta "that there were moments when I could have plunged a dagger into her heart". It is all potent, hot-blooded stuff and the temptation to turn this gripping story into a lurid soap opera would be hard to resist. But the Bakewells do something much more compelling in this excellent biography; their restraint brings out the vividness and emotional complexity of the story better than any previous telling. Only occasionally does the prose become swayed by the passion of the subject--as when Byron and Augusta fall in love, "drawn irresistibly closer by a physical attraction that became more electric as each day carried their discovery of one another a little further". Byron himself emerges from the narrative as immature and spoilt to a near-monstrous degree, although the Bakewells try to be understanding (of his psychological torture of his wife they admit that Byron appears no more than "an overgrown schoolboy", and add "but he was feeling hurt, angry and deeply unhappy and was determined to make someone suffer for it"). Byron's wronged wife Annabella, and her lengthy campaign to blacken Augusta's reputation are also well handled, and Augusta herself emerges as a thoroughly compelling character: a deeply nice individual who "firmly believed that there was no harm in anything that did not damage others". With a passionate romantic streak running through her warm and easy-going personality, she emerges from this biography as a grounded and likeable human being. --Adam Roberts