It has been surmised, but conclusive proof is not forthcoming, that a so-called Fourth Edition of 1810 (1050 lines), which purports to have been published by James Cawthorn, and bears the imprint, "Printed by J. Collins, Harvey's Buildings, Strand, London," is a spurious issue. It is practically a reprint of the Third Edition; but in some copies there are misprints not to be found in other piracies—e.g. "crouds" for "crowds" (line 269), and "alter" for "altar"(line 285).
Copies of the Fourth Edition of 1810, which may possibly be genuine, bear a water-mark, "G.&R.T.," or are on plain paper. Copies which are manifestly forgeries bear the water-marks, "J.X. 1810" and "W. Pickering, 1816."
A second Fourth Edition (1052 lines), published by "James Cawthorn and Sharp & Hailes, 1811," and printed by "Cox, Son, & Baylis," was certainly recognized by Byron as a genuine Fourth Edition, and must have passed through his hands, or been subject to his emendation, before it was sent to press. Copies of this edition bear his MS. emendations of 1811-1812, and marginal notes of 1816. Genuine copies (e.g. Leigh Hunt's copy, now in the Forster Collection at the South Kensington Museum) are printed on paper bearing a water-mark, "J. Whatman, 1805." There was, however, another issue of the Fourth Edition of 1811, printed on plain paper. Mr. Redgrave notes certain minute differences between these two issues. In the edition on plain paper there is a hyphen to "Cockspur-Street" on the title-page, and the word "Street" is followed by a comma instead of a semicolon. Again, in the plain-paper copies "Lambe" is spelt with an e, and in the water-mark copies the word is correctly spelt "Lamb." In the plain-paper copies the misprint "Postcript" for "Postscript" is repeated, and in the copies bearing a water-mark the word is correctly spelt "Postscript." There are other differences in the advertisements at the end of the volume.
A spurious Fourth Edition in Mr. Murray's possession, which has been enriched with a series of prints of persons and places, bears the water-marks, "1811," "1814." Each page has been inserted into a folio sheet bearing the water-mark, "J. Whatman, 1816." A full-sized octavo, in small print (B.M. 11645 P. 15), which purports to be the Fourth Edition of 1811, is probably spurious. It is the survival of a distinct issue from other genuine or spurious copies of the Fourth Edition.
The spurious issues of the Third and Fourth Editions, whether they were printed in Ireland or were secretly thrown upon the market by James Cawthorn after Byron had definitely selected Murray as his publisher, were designed for the general reader and not for the collector. The issue of a spurious First Edition after the improved and enlarged editions of 1809-11 were published, must have been designed for the Byron enthusiast, if not the collector of First Editions.
The Grangerized Fourth Editions prepared by Mr. W. M. Tartt and Mr. Evans in 1819, 1820, and a Third, by John Murray at about the same period, and, more remarkable still, a copy of the Fourth Edition of 1811, prefaced by a specially printed "List of Names mentioned in the English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers" interleaved with the additions made in the Fifth Edition (B.M.), point to the existence of a circle of worshippers who were prepared to treat Byron's Juvenilia as seriously as the minute critics of the present generation. They seem to have been sufficiently numerous to make piracy, if not forgery, profitable.
Note (2).—Correspondence Between the First Edition as Numbered and the Present Issue as Numbered.
| First Edition (696 lines). | Fifth (Present) Edition (1070 lines). | |
| 1-26 | = | 103-128 |
| 27-246 | = | 143-362 |
| 247-262 | = | Hobhouse's lines, omitted in Edition 2. |
| 263-372 | = | 418-528 |
| 373-470 | = | 540-637 |
| 471-522 | = | 707-758 |
| 523-526 | = | 761-764 |
| 527-586 | = | 799-858 |
| 587-654 | = | 881-948 |
| 655-667 | = | 961-972 |
| 668-696 | = | 981-1010 |
| Second, Third, Fourth (a) Editions (1050 lines). | Fifth (Present) Edition (1070 lines). | |
| 1-96 | = | 1-96 |
| 97-521 | = | 103-527 |
| 522-740 | = | 540-758 |
| 741-1050 | = | 761-1070 |
| Fourth (b) Edition (1052 lines). | Fifth (Present) Edition (1070 lines). | |
| 1-96 | = | 1-96 |
| 97-521 | = | 103-528 |
| 522-1052 | = | 540-1070 |