{"product_id":"byrom-john-miscellaneous-poems-1773-first-collected-edition-atherton-byrom-cusack-smith-association-copy","title":"BYROM, John — Miscellaneous Poems — 1773 — First Collected Edition — Atherton Byrom \/ Cusack-Smith Association Copy","description":"\u003cp dir=\"auto\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBYROM, John.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eMiscellaneous Poems, by John Byrom, M.A. F.R.S. Sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Inventor of the Universal English Short-Hand. In Two Volumes.\u003c\/em\u003e Manchester: Printed by J. Harrop, 1773.\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eFirst collected edition of the poems of John Byrom (1692–1763), the Manchester poet, scholar, Fellow of the Royal Society and inventor of a widely used system of shorthand, published posthumously in two volumes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eA particularly appealing association copy, preserving a closely documented chain of ownership linking the Byrom family with the future diplomat Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eEach volume bears the presentation inscription:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eT. B. Cusac-Smith \/ from Atherton Byrom \/ Culver. Xmas 1882.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eCusack-Smith’s ownership signature also appears independently at the head of the title page in both volumes, firmly establishing the association across the complete set. The inscriptions are recorded in the accompanying provenance research. \u003cspan class=\"contents\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe donor can be identified with considerable confidence as \u003cstrong\u003eEdward Clement “Atherton” Byrom (1857–1935)\u003c\/strong\u003e, son of Edward Byrom of Culver. Contemporary evidence records the younger Edward Clement as being known socially simply as “Atherton”; he was twenty-five years old at the date of the presentation and almost exactly contemporary with the recipient. \u003cspan class=\"contents\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe recipient was \u003cstrong\u003eThomas Berry Cusack-Smith (1859–1929)\u003c\/strong\u003e, later Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, 5th Baronet. \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003eThomas Berry Cusack-Smith (1859–1929), later Sir Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, 5th Baronet, went on to a distinguished diplomatic career. He served as British Consul at Apia, Samoa, from 1890 to 1898 and also acted as Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific. His years in Samoa coincided with Robert Louis Stevenson’s residence at Vailima from 1890 until the author’s death in 1894, and the two men moved within the same small expatriate and official circle. Cusack-Smith’s surviving papers in the National Library of New Zealand include correspondence relating to Stevenson, photographs of a birthday gathering at Vailima, and visitor books bearing the signatures of Stevenson, his wife Fanny and his mother.\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe presentation was made within a close family and social network rather than being a chance acquaintance. Cusack-Smith’s first cousin, William Swaine Chisenhale-Marsh, had married Esther Eleanora Mary Byrom, Atherton Byrom’s sister, on 11 October 1881. Thus, by Christmas 1882, Cusack-Smith had entered the immediate social circle of the Culver Byrom family through his cousin’s marriage. An 1881 programme for the Flitterbat Club additionally records members of the Chisenhale-Marsh, Cusack-Smith and Byrom families within the same social milieu. \u003cspan class=\"contents\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThe set later entered the library of John Alfred Victor Chapple (1928– 2019),  Professor of English at the University of Hull and later Professor Emeritus. Chapple was a leading authority on Elizabeth Gaskell, co-editor with Arthur Pollard of \u003cem\u003eThe Letters of Mrs Gaskell\u003c\/em\u003e and long-serving President of the Gaskell Society. His ownership label, dated “London 1955,” is preserved in both volumes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe result is a well-provenanced copy of Byrom’s first collected poems: presented by a member of the Culver Byrom family to a future British diplomat already connected to the family by marriage, with the presentation inscription and recipient’s ownership signature repeated in both volumes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProvenance:\u003c\/strong\u003e Edward Clement “Atherton” Byrom → Thomas Berry Cusack-Smith, Christmas 1882 → Professor John A. V. Chapple, London, 1955.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Nineteenth-century half-leather bindings rubbed and scuffed, with wear to corners, extremities and some areas of surface loss; spines and labels remain attractive and legible. Structurally sound. Marbled boards and endpapers bright and decorative. Internally generally very good, with light toning and occasional minor spotting. Presentation inscriptions and ownership signatures to both volumes as described. Original errata leaves present.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReference\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eESTC T227682\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Reservoir Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58056151695742,"sku":null,"price":450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1018\/4464\/8318\/files\/IMG_0515.jpg?v=1789749114","url":"https:\/\/reservoirbooks.store\/products\/byrom-john-miscellaneous-poems-1773-first-collected-edition-atherton-byrom-cusack-smith-association-copy","provider":"Reservoir Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}