  Photoneutron reactions on $^{208}$Pb in the Giant Dipole Resonance energy
region have been investigated at the $\gamma$-ray beam line of the NewSUBARU
facility in Japan. The measurements made use of quasi-monochromatic laser
Compton backscattering $\gamma$-ray beams in a broad energy range, from the
neutron threshold up to 38 MeV, and of a flat-efficiency moderated $^3$He
neutron detection system along with associated neutron-multiplicity sorting
methods. We report absolute cross sections and mean photoneutron energies for
the $^{208}$Pb$(\gamma,\,inX)$ reactions with $i$~=~1 to 4. The fine structure
present in the $^{208}$Pb$(\gamma,\,n)$ cross sections at incident energies
lower than 13~MeV has been observed. The photoabsorption cross section has been
obtained as the sum of the $(\gamma,\,inX)$ reaction cross sections. By
reproducing the measured ring-ratio values at excitation energies below the two
neutron separation energy, we were able to extract estimations on the
$^{208}$Pb$(\gamma,\,n)$ photoneutron energy spectra and on the partial
photoneutron cross sections for leaving the residual $^{207}$Pb in its ground
and first two excited states. The present results are compared with data from
the literature and statistical model calculations.
