George Gordon Byron was a superb letter-writer: almost all his letters, whatever the subject or whoever the recipient, are enlivened by his wit, his irony, his honesty, and the sharpness of his observation of people. They provide a vivid self-portrait of the man who, of all his contemporaries, seems to express attitudes and feelings most in tune with the twentieth century. In addition, they offer a mirror of his own time. This first collected edition of all Byron s known letters supersedes Prothero s incomplete edition at the turn of the century. It includes a considerable number of hitherto unpublished letters and the complete text of many that were bowdlerized by former editors for a variety of reasons. Prothero s edition included 1,198 letters. This edition has more than 3,000, over 80 percent of them transcribed entirely from the original manuscripts. The final volume of this splendid edition contains a comprehensive index to the contents of the preceding volumes the several thousand letters, the journals, the notes and biographical sketches. The index is prefaced by a generous selection of Byron s aphorisms, "bons mots," and memorable statements, culled by Mr. Marchand from the letters and journals and arranged under subject headings."