Jerome McGann's seven-volume edition of Byron's Poems has concluded with a magnificent index compiled by Carol Pearson. As columns to browse in, these are in the same league as the DNB or OED. Old Romantic hands might be tempted to look up 'Rousseau' or 'Wordsworth', but to test this edition with the name of another established writer would be to show you didn't know what McGann stands for. Warm up, if you must, on 'Great Britain', 'France' and 'Greece'. But a social edition, as McGann has described his project, offers immersion in Byron's day-to-day living, opened up in Pearson's adroit listings on animals, books, food, friends and, above all, women. At nearly four columns, the last is easily the longest entry:

LRB 20 October 1994 | PDF Download