Merrie Days of England. Sketches of the Olden Time.

MCDERMOTT, Edward [Queen Victoria].

Item Number: 115522

London: William Kent & Co, 1859.

First edition of McDermott’s collection of sketches illustrating “the merrie days of England”. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth richly decorated in gilt, illustrated with 20 engravings from drawings by Joseph Nash, George Thomas, Birket Foster, and Edward Corbould. Association copy, inscribed by Queen Victoria on the front free endpaper to her cousin in French, “Pour mon cher Cousin Joinville de son affectionee cousine Victoria Noel 1858.” The recipient, François d’Orléans, Prince of Joinville was the third son of Louis Philippe I, King of the French from 1830 to 1848 and lifelong friend of Queen Victoria’s father King George III. In fine condition. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box by Sangorski and Sutcliffe for Asprey. An exceptional example.

Queen Victoria's reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover. Her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.