Description
Quarter bound in leather with marbled boards. Binding in poor condition: spine completely missing, front cover detached (but present), corners and edges bumped and rubbed, covers scuffed and faded. However the block is clean with minimal foxing. Each leaflet is signed and dated on the title page: Henrietta Emily O’Beirne, 1836. A later owner has signed the front endpaper in 1928. Contents are 5 leaflets on historic sites bound together: 1) Aimez Loyaulte. The History of Basing House, in Hampshire: Containing an Interesting Account of the Siege in Sustained during the Civil War; with Notices of Distinguished Persons concerned in its Transactions. To which is added Basing House; An Elegy. Basingstoke; Published and Sold by S. Chandler. 1824. 2nd edition with revisions, 45 pp., engraved frontispiece. 2)The History of Holy Ghost Chapel, Basingstoke, and of the Brotherhood, or Guild of the Holy Ghost, in the said Chapel. Basingstoke; Published and Sold by S. Chandler. 1819. First edition, viii, 94, [2]pp., with engraved frontispiece and plan of building. 3) A Short Description of the History and Antiquities of St Cross, Near Winchester. Printed and Sold by James Robbins, College-Street, Winchester. 1822. First edition, 32 pp. Fold-out engraved frontispiece. 4) The History and Antiquities of Silchester, in Hampshire, the Vindonum of the Romans, and the Caer Segont of the Ancient Britons. Basingstoke; published by S Chandler. 1823. 2nd edition, corrected, 32pp. 5) A Tract, Chiefly Related to Monastic Antiquities; with some account of a recent search for the remains of the Scottish Kings interred in the Abbey of Dunfermline by John Graham Dalyell, Esq. Edinburgh; Printed by George Ramsay and Company. 1809. 1st edition, xii, 74pp., with engraved frontispiece with coloured details. This collection of leaflets sheds a light on the intellectual interests of an upper-class woman of the 1830s. The National Archives in London have the will of a Henrietta Emily O’Beirne of Warfield Lodge, Berkshire, who died in 1848.It seems likely that this is the original owner of this volume. The collection of these leaflets gives evidence of her strong interest in history and archaeology both local to her and further afield. Their publication reflects the growing interest in medieval sites prompted by the Romantic movement. Very scarce, an exceptional find in spite of the poor condition of the binding. Due to the value of this item there will be a delivery surcharge.