James Cummins Bookseller

London: 1820-1821.

Price: $1,750.00

About the item

1 vols. 8vo. The Countess of Jersey’s Copies. Contemporary half calf and paste paper boards. Rebacked preserving spine. Very good. Provenance: Sarah Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey, with the Middleton Park bookplate of her husband, the foxhunting fifth Earl, Victor Albert George Child Villiers. Library shelf mark ShIII R.II. Notes on front pastedown "from the Author. Lord Erskine's Speech on Moving for a list of witnesses to be given to the Queen. July 1820..."

Item #266804

Collection of pamphlets from the “Queen Caroline Affair” (1820), with the ownership signatures of the Countess of Jersey, Sarah Sophia Child Villiers (1785-1867). She was a banking heiress with a colossal income; her husband, fifth Earl of Jersey, famed as a foxhunter and sportsman, was the son of Frances Villiers, a notorious coquette and royal mistress of George IV when Prince of Wales. Sarah Jersey was “one of the most prominent hostesses and social figures of her generation … her houses became centres for the whig party. … Her love of being at the centre of attention, perhaps, as much as conviction led her to take up the unfashionable cause of Queen Caroline when George IV was seeking to divorce her: she championed the queen with such frenzied fervour that her friends began to doubt her reason” (ODNB). The first three titles are exceedingly scarce; the fourth title is more widely held in institutions.

Includes:
1. Substance of Lord (Thomas) Erskine's Speech in the House of Lords ... the 14th of July 1820, on moving that a list of the witnesses intended to be examined in support of the Bill of Pains and Penalties should forthwith be delivered to the Queen. London, 1820. From T. Author inscribed on title-page. and signed there "Countess Jersey /1820." [2], 23, [1, imprint] pp. OCLC: 38864669.

2. Speeches of Mr. Brougham, Mr. Denman, and Dr. Lushington, containing the defence of Her Majesty the Queen. London, 1820. 58; 90; 38 pp. Signed on title-page "Countess of Jersey/ Berkeley Square." OCLC: 236079361.

3. Journal des voyages de S.M. La Reine, en Afrique, en Grèce, et en Palestine, par Louise Dermont … précédés d'un Mémoire expliquant la maniere dont le Journl a été obtenu. Par Edgar Garston. Londres, Chez MM. Allman, 1821. xxviii, 72 pp. Signed "C. Jersey" on t.p. OCLC: 33935058

4. A Queen's Appeal. [In verse. Pleading the cause of Queen Caroline. By Peter Bayley.] London, Printed for Robert Stodart, 1820. 83, [1, ad] pp. OCLC: 8559909.