Explore the extraordinary life of Lord Byron—the famous scribe known for his lengthy narratives Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage—at this new exhibition at the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Running from September 7 through January 12, the collection of personal letters, literary manuscripts, illustrated biographies, paintings, prints, and even wine bills traces Byron’s movements, from his youth in Aberdeen, to his sudden fame after the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, to his death in Greece at the age of 36.
And his seeming contradictions will be delved into just as much as his storied life, library officials promise. "Byron is a fascinatingly mixed character," said Elizabeth Denlinger, curator of the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle at the New York Public Library. "Despite his well-earned reputation as a party boy and misogynist, he was also a committed writer for whom writing wasn’t the most important thing in life; his ultimate commitment, expressed in joining the Greek war for independence, was to the principles of self-determination and liberty."