Beschreibung:

Death of Lord Byron Medal, 1824. Bronze, 55mm. By G. Galeazzi (and likely struck in Torino). BHM 1226 RRR) . Obv. Bare head r. Rev. Apollo standing l., playing lyre, one foot on funerary barge, AGITANTE CALESCIMVS ILLO ( We become enthusiastic by his inspiration); [Byron, George Gordon Noel, Lord] Contemporary copies of 6 letters in Manuscript, pp. 17, large 8vo, comprising 1) letter from Dr Francesco Bruno to Mr C. Hancock with a postscript by Lord Byron dated 2nd January 1824; 2-6) from Lord Byron to Mr Charles Hancock Missolonghi, 13/2/1824 - 10/3/1824 (all published in Leslie A Marchand's 'Letters and Journal of Lord Byron'). There are various small differences. In the 5th letter Marchand reads 'but Bowring or somebody else disgusted him' while the MS has Kennedy in place of Bowring. The paper is watermarked P M Fabriano; with a small Attica bronze coin (3) Note: Bruno was Byron's personal physician; John Bowring was the Honorary Secretary of the London Greek Committee; Kennedy had been a medical officer in the British forces, was an evangelical Christian, and author of Conversations on religion with Lord Byron; Charles Hancock with his partner Samuel Barff, was Byron's banker in Argostoli on Cephalonia. Marchand in volume 11, p. 124, states 'Bryon put all his business, including the cashing of bills of exchange, in the hands of Barff and Hancock. He established a very friendly personal relationship with Hancock before he left for Missolonghi and wrote some of his most frank and confidential letters to him during his last months among the Greeks.' Provenance: From the library of the late William St Clair, FBA, FRSL.