VICTORIA Queen - Arthur HELPS ( editor ) - Clémentine d'ORLÉANS (provenance) - (copy autographed by Queen Victoria ) :
Reference : 57083
" London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1868, format in-8°, (20 cm), xv pp + (5)nn pp + 315 pp, with a steel-engraved frontispiece (view of Balmoral). Bound in full green decorated morocco, all edges gilt, gilt fillets on both covers, silk headcaps, double fillets on the turn-ins.Bound by Burn (at Kirbystreet 37-38), a small printed label on the last fly leag. Binding and book in perfect condition. This copy with the autograph ex-dono of the queen to het cousin Clémentine d'Orléans. The dedication , in Victoria's hand, reads '' Pour ma chère Clémentine, de la part de sa dévouée Cousine VR (Victoria Regina), 28 Jan: 1868. Clémentine was the daughter of the last French king: Louis-Philppe ( 1773 - 1850) ; also called ''le roi bourgeois''. . She married in 1843 the German prince Auguste deSaxe-Cobourg-Gotha. Her husband was a first cousin of prince Albert, consort of Victoria. The book was published in 1868 and already at the end of January the queen had bound copies at her disposal to be send to members of the Royay Family and intimate friends as, according the editor's note, was the original purpose to write the book. The book became immensely popular and was printed in tens of thousand copies. This copy, with the interesting ex-dono autograph belongs to the very first edition and served the purpose (being send to relatives and intimate friends) as originally intended by the queen."