Descripción
4to (267 x 184mm), pp. [2 (inserted limitation l.)], xiv, [2 (maps, verso blank)], 532; wood-engraved title-illustration printed in red and black ink on india paper and mounted, wood-engraved dedication-border, illustrations, head- and tailpieces, and initials, all by G. Pearson and J. Cooper after R.T. Pritchett, printed on india and mounted, one lithographic chart of 'Temperature of Air and Water' and 9 lithographic maps, all by and after Edward Weller, printed in colours on india and mounted, 2 of the maps folding; occasional light spotting, fore-edges of a few ll. and one folding map slightly creased and chipped, upper hinge skilfully reinforced and front flyleaf skilfully reinserted; original half vellum gilt over grey cloth by Simpson and Bevington, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, others uncut; some light marking, extremities slightly rubbed and bumped, nonetheless a very good, clean copy; provenance: Maud Ernestine (née Rendel), Lady Gladstone of Hawarden, 3 January 1890 (1865-1941, dated presentation inscription on front flyleaf, 'Miss Maud Rendel from Lord Brassey with sincere congratulations and good wishes'; engraved bookplate as Lady Gladstone on upper pastedown) Linda Sloss (20th-century bookplate on front free endpaper; inscription dated February 1969 on front flyleaf, gifting the book to:) 'Muz?.First edition, no. 226 of 250 large-paper copies with illustrations on india. In the Trades, Tropics, & the Roaring Forties, the last work to be published during her lifetime by Annie Brassey, describes a voyage undertaken with her husband Thomas, Baron Brassey in 1883. They travelled from Dartmouth to Funchal as passengers on the Norham Castle; then embarked upon the Sunbeam, which crossed the Atlantic to the Carribean, reaching Trinidad at the end of October 1883; and then proceeded via Venezuela, Jamiaca, and Cuba to the Bahamas. The ship departed for its return journey on 22 November 1883, crossing the Atlantic via Bermuda and the Azores, and returning to Dartmouth on 30 December 1883. As a girl, Lady Brassey had been fascinated by botany, and this voyage 'gave her ample opportunities for engaging in her botanical pursuits. In Venezuela [she] travelled by mule to reach the luxuriant verdure of the jungle. There was the Bog Walk in Jamaica, to the beauty of which no words could do justice. She admired the wild luxuriance of nature in the Azores, where the vegetation appeared to combine the products of temperate and tropic zones' (Theakstone). The first edition of In the Trades, Tropics, & the Roaring Forties was published in two forms: this large-paper issue in a half vellum binding, which was limited to 250 copies, and the more commonly encountered octavo issue bound in cloth. This copy was inscribed by Lord Brassey on 3 January 1890 (some three years after his wife's death), to the Hon. Maud Rendel, who would marry Henry Neville Gladstone, 1st Baron Gladstone of Hawarden on 31 January 1890 it seems likely that this volume was given to her as an engagement present. Thomas Brassey (1836-1918), was elected the Liberal Member of Parliament for Hastings in 1868 and held the seat until 1886. In 1880 he was appointed Civil Lord of the Admiralty in Gladstone's second administration; in 1884 Maud Rendel's uncle G.W. Rendel took over the role and Brassey was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, holding the position until the end of the parliament in 1885. Following his resignation as Prime Minister, Gladstone travelled to Norway with the Brasseys on the Sunbeam in August 1885, and in 1886 he raised Brassey to the peerage in his resignation honours. Cundall, West Indies, 2344; Theakstone, p. 32; Theakstone (2017), p. 52; Robinson, Wayward Women, p. 204. N° de ref. del artículo T3966
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