Lord Byron and his favourite.
Branston and Wrightengraver.
[London] : Vizetelly, Branston, & Co. Printers, 76, Fleet Street.,
[1832?]
Popular portrait gallery. Price Twopence.--at foot of sheet.
A single sheet wood engraving by Branston and Wright showing an adult Lord Byron and his pet Newfoundland dog. The dog in question may be Lyon/Lion, the dog Byron was presented with as he prepared to set out for Greece in 1823 and which accompanied him throughout his time in Greece. Byron had previously owned a Newfoundland dog, Boatswain, as a 15-year-old in 1803, which died of rabies 5 years later, and was buried, with an elaborate monument, in the ancestral home of Newstead Abbey.
This engraving appeared in the first issue of a short-lived periodical, published by Vizetelly and Branston, in 1832, "The Popular portrait gallery of illustrious and eminent persons". Byron was on of six famous people accorded an engraving and biographical sketch, the other 5 being: Napoleon and his father, Sir Walter Scott, Earl Grey and Lord Brougham. No more issues are recorded as having been published and the individual engravings, such as this one, appear to have been sold separately for 2d.
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824
England London.