Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy. In Five Acts. With Notes. The Prophecy of Dante, a Poem.

BYRON, Lord George Gordon.

$975.00

Item Number: 120688

London: John Murray, 1821.

First edition, first issue of Byron’s posthumously published tragedy with the Doge’s speech on p. 151 that begins “What crimes ?” Octavo, bound in full contemporary calf with a black morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt ruling to the spine and panels, marbled endpapers. In very good condition.

Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice is a blank verse tragedy in five acts by Lord Byron, published and first performed in 1821. Byron was inspired to take on this subject when, on examining the portraits of the Doges in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, he discovered that the portrait of Faliero had been blacked out. The main historical source he drew on was Marino Sanuto's Vite dei Dogi (published posthumously 1733). He completed the play in July 1820, by which time he was living in Ravenna, and published it in April 1821, along with his The Prophecy of Dante. He intended to dedicate it to Goethe, but delays in the post between Italy and England resulted in the play being published without a dedication. The posthumous 1832 edition of Byron's collected works included a later dedication of the play by Byron to his friend Douglas Kinnaird. Marino Faliero was translated into French in 1830 and into Italian in 1838.