The Riviera: Etchings & Vignettes.

ANSTED, Alexander R. (Queen Victoria).

Item Number: 80052

London: Seely and Co. Limited , 1894.

First edition, presentation copy from Queen Victoria of this beautiful view book of the French Riviera. Quarto, original navy blue cloth with gilt titles to the spine and front panel, illustrated with with twenty full-page etchings with tissue guards, copiously illustrated with additional vignettes throughout. Warmly inscribed by Queen Victoria on the half-title page, “To the Hon. Mary Hardinge, from her affectionate Victoria R.I., Osborne, Christmas 1893.” The recipient, Mary Hardinge was one of Queen Victoria’s Maids of Honour, a young unmarried lady of her court between the years of 1892 and 1894. In very good condition. Rare and desirable with such a large inscription from Queen Victoria.

The French Riviera was one of Queen Victoria's most beloved destinations, to which she took nine spring and summer trips throughout the course of her lifetime. During her first visit in 1882, she and Prince Albert crossed the English channel on their private yacht and took the train to the hilltop town of Menton, where the railway magnate Charles Henfrey had offered her the use of his villa. After the death of Prince Albert, she made several expeditions along the coast often accompanied by her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice or youngest son, Prince Leopold. Another trip in 1891 took her to the town of Grasse and close friend Baroness Alice de Rothschild's magnificent chateau Villa Victoria. Her subsequent visits from 1895 to 1899 were all spent in Nice where she enjoyed staying at the Grand Hotel and Hotel Excelsior.