GAMBA, Pietro, conte. A Narrative of Lord Byron's Last Journey to Greece. Extracted from the Journal of Count Peter Gamba, who Attended his Lordship on that Expedition. London, John Murray, 1825.
8vo. Contemporary English half calf gilt over marbled boards, spine ornamented and lettered in gilt; pp. [iii]-xii, 307; 2 folding facsimile letters in lithography; extremities slightly rubbed, head of spine defective, bound without half-title, as usual, internally very clean and fresh.
First edition. 'Gamba was the brother of Byron's mistress Theresa Guiccioli. He became Byron's secretary and was with him through the Greek adventure to the end. After Byron's death he came to London where he published this work with the approval and assistance of [John Cam] Hobhouse [to whom it is dedicated]. He returned to Greece, joined Colonel Fabvier, and died at [the battle of] Methana in 1826 [...] Moore regards Gamba's account as a "discreet but very valuable record of Byron's last days". Stanhope [...] quoted Byron as saying that Gamba and Hobhouse were the two most fitted to write his biography because Hobhouse was his companion in his youth and "Gamba knew all his latter years"' (Blackmer). This record of Byron's last days was highly regarded by contemporaries and remains an important biographical source.
Atabey 476; Blackmer 646; Wise, Byron II, p. 87.
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