In 1821, with Byron's blessing, Moore sold the manuscript, with which Byron had entrusted him three years before, to the publisher John Murray. Although he himself allowed that it contained some "very coarse things", when, following Bryon's death in 1824, Moore learned that Murray had deemed the material unfit for publication he spoke of settling the matter with a duel.Cochran, Peter (2014). The Burning of Byron's Memoirs: New and Unpublished Essays and Papers. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. . pp. 6–7 But the combination of Byron's wife Lady Byron, half-sister and executor Augusta Leigh and Moore's rival in Byron's friendship John Cam Hobhouse prevailed. In what some were to call the greatest literary crime in history, in Moore's presence the family solicitors tore up all extant copies of the manuscript and burned them in Murray's fireplace.
In 1821, with Byron's blessing, Moore sold the manuscript with which Byron had entrusted him three years before, to the publisher John Murray. Although he himself allowed that it contained some "very coarse things", when, following Bryon's death in 1824, Moore learned that Murray had deemed the material unfit for publication he spoke of settling the matter with a duel.Cochran, Peter (2014). The Burning of Byron's Memoirs: New and Unpublished Essays and Papers. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. . pp. 6–7 But the combination of Byron's wife Lady Byron, half-sister and executor Augusta Leigh and Moore's rival in Byron's friendship John Cam Hobhouse prevailed. In what some were to call the greatest literary crime in history, in Moore's presence the family solicitors tore up all extant copies of the manuscript and burned them in Murray's fireplace.