Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author

'Byron was designated 'Baby Byron'; it fitted him to a T - wayward, capricious, lured by glitter and false lights and his vivid imagination'

In February 1822 the writer and adventurer Edward John Trelawny arrived in Pisa to make the acquaintance of his heroes Shelley and Byron, leaving a broken marriage and an exotic seafaring career behind him. He became a close companion to them and their circle, and this collection of his reminiscences is one of the most fresh and intriguing documents of the Romantic age. It records his initial meeting with a cynical and flippant Byron, his impressions of a youthful, otherworldly Shelley and, most memorably, the poet's death at sea and the subsequent burning of his body on the sand. Trelawny's Records combine vigorous prose, vivid description and mythmaking to create one of the most memorable portraits of an age.

Rosemary Hill's new introduction explores the mysterious life and quixotic character of Trelawny, and this edition includes all the author's later revisions.

Edited with notes by David Wright