An Unpublished Letter of Lord Byron
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Book and pictures courtesy of Stephen and Paulette Modiano. Description courtesy of Paul Jackson.
An Unpublished Letter of
Lord Byron
by Arthur E. Anundsen, 1913
This book measures 8" x 6" and has 24
unnumbered pages plus a title page. The title page and first page running head
and initial are hand illumined. The book was printed in one color on Roycroft
watermarked paper. This book is not listed in McKenna and printing numbers are
unknown but thought to be quite small. This book prior to its' purchase by
Stephen Modiano and publication here, was unknown to and previously unseen by
all the major Roycroft collectors.
The Unpublished Letter was originally published in the June 1901
Philistine and was later published in Volume #9 of the Selected Writings series
and reprinted in the Philistine. In the June 1901 Philistine Hubbard
leaves the impression that this was actually written by Lord Byron. In the
Selected Writings and the Philistine reprint Hubbard states; "In answer to many
questions as to where the original was found, I will say it was discovered under
a Cabbage Leaf in the Roycroft Garden, which is in East Aurora, by Ali Baba."
This letter was actually written by Arthur E. Anundsen, a lawyer from Decorah,
Iowa. This letter was written regarding a private incident in his life and was a
work of art and a farewell to a young lady after a "grand passion".
Anundsen gave a copy of it to his friend Major James B. Pond who also
incidentally booked speaking engagements for Elbert Hubbard. Pond is actually
the one who humorously named it An Unpublished Letter From Lord Byron and
showed it to Elbert Hubbard. According to David Balch, Hubbard pocketed the
letter and to Pond's astonishment published it in the June 1901 Philistine.
Above information is excerpted from pages #234 and 235 of Elbert Hubbard
Genius of Roycroft by David Arnold Balch, published by Frederick A. Stokes
Company in 1940.