Bibliographical Note to 'Hours of Idleness' and Other Early Poems

 There were four distinct issues of Byron's Juvenilia. The first collection, entitled 

Fugitive Pieces

, was printed in quarto by S. and J. Ridge of Newark. Two of the poems, 

The Tear

 and the 

Reply to Some Verses of J. M. B. Pigot, Esq.

, were signed "Byron;" but the volume itself, which is without a title-page, was anonymous. It numbers sixty-six pages, and consists of thirty-eight distinct pieces. The last piece, 

Imitated from Catullus. To Anna

, is dated November 16, 1806. The whole of this issue, with the exception of two or three copies, was destroyed. An imperfect copy, lacking pp. 17-20 and pp. 58-66, is preserved at Newstead. A perfect copy, which had been retained by the Rev. J. T. Becher, at whose instance the issue was suppressed, was preserved by his family (see 

Life

, by Karl Elze, 1872, p. 450), and is now in the possession of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B. A facsimile reprint of this unique volume, limited to one hundred copies, was issued, for private circulation only, from the Chiswick Press in 1886.

 

 Of the thirty-eight 

Fugitive Pieces

, two poems, viz. 

To Caroline

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