Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection from her Majesty’s Correspondence Between the Years 1837 and 1861.

VICTORIA, Queen. Edited by Arthur Christopher and Viscount Esher.

Item Number: 115539

London: John Murray, 1907.

First edition set of this selection of the letters of Queen Victoria, written between 1837 and 1861. Octavo, original cloth richly decorated in gilt with ivorene onlays displaying Victoria’s royal initials, top edges gilt with others uncut, illustrated with tissue-guarded engravings including tissue-guarded frontispieces to each volume. Near fine in the scarce original dust jackets which are in near fine condition.

In her early years, Queen Victoria formed the habit of methodologically preserving her private letters. After her accession to the throne, she treated her official papers similarly and bound them into volumes, resulting in this extraordinary collection illustrating the development of her character and disposition and revealing the laborious patience with which she kept herself informed of the minutest details of political and social movements both in her own and other countries. Victoria's "Letters" were issued in three series of three volumes each, this being the first. The final series was issued in 1928.