Beschreibung:

Commonplace book dated 1828, belonging to J.H. Stampe, entitled "Extracts &c., Bifrons, Christmas 1828", including a transcribed poem, "Ada to her Cat", attributed to "A. Ada Byron, Christmas day 1828" and seemingly narrated to Stampe by "Lady N.B." [Lady Noel Byron, Anne Isabella Noel Byron, née Milbanke], with an illustration of the cat ("The lovely Puff in a Sweet Slumber") drawn by Lady Byron pasted to the reverse, which Sharpe has captioned: "Given me by Ada - Decmbr 1828 at Bifrons I.M.S.", a total of 56 MSS. leaves, several with poems and writings by I. Noel, and extracts from the romantic poets, contemporary red straight-grained morocco gilt, 19 x 24cm Note: Following a separation from Lord Byron in 1815, and Lord Byron's death in 1824, Lady Byron and her daughter, Ada, became the tenants of Bifrons Mansion House, near Canterbury. This album seems to have been a Christmas present to a relative or friend named I. Sharpe who celebrated with the family at the house in 1828, when Ada was just 14 years old. The poem, "Dear object of my tender care,/ Which neither dog nor bird may share,/ Of all the feline tribe most rare, My pussy!" is attributed by Sharpe to the young Ada and runs to four stanzas. The quantity of writings later in the album attributed to I. Noel suggests that Sharpe may have been Ada's maternal aunt or a cousin, Noel being one of Lady Byron's family names. Ada Byron, Lord Byron's daughter, became Ada Lovelace in 1835 and is renowned for having published the first computer algorithm. Provenance: From the Library of the Late William St Clair