More Leaves from the Journal of a Life in the Highlands.

VICTORIA, Queen.

Item Number: 109805

London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1884.

Early printing of this collection of excerpts from Queen Victoria’s journals from Balmoral. Octavo, original green cloth with gilt titles and decorations to the spine and front panel, patterned endpapers, illustrated with engravings. Presentation copy, inscribed by Queen Victoria on the front free endpaper, “To Amy Lambart from VRI Windsor Castle May 22, 1884.” The recipient, Amy Lambart was Maid of Honour to the Queen from 1877 to 1884. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the crown and foot of the spine. Rare and desirable with noted provenance.

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she had the additional title of Empress of India. Her 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. Victoria wrote an average of 2,500 words a day during her adult life. From July 1832 until just before her death, she kept a detailed journal, which eventually encompassed 122 volumes. After Victoria's death, her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was appointed her literary executor. Beatrice transcribed and edited the diaries covering Victoria's accession onwards, and burned the originals in the process. After the death of Prince Albert and the beginning of her long period of mourning, Victoria withdrew from public view. But she did not wholly vanish from public life, for she reappeared as an author through her published accounts of the world around Balmoral, her Scottish retreat and the backdrop for her great friendship with John Brown. Acquired by Prince Albert in 1852, the Balmoral Estate became the Royal couple's favorite summer home. Queen Victoria had a pyramid-shaped cairn erected in memory of the Prince on top of Craig Lurachain in 1862, one year after his death in 1861.