[Rarebooks] fa: THE GENUINE BOOK: A Delicate Investigation into the Conduct of Caroline Princess of Wales 1813

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 20. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/gver2yx

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Spencer Perceval: The Genuine Book. An Inquiry, or Delicate Investigation into the Conduct of  Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales; Before Lords Erskine, Spencer, Grenville, and Ellenborough, the Four Special Commissioners Appointed by His Majesty in the Year 1806. London: Reprinted and sold by B. Jones, 1813. Tall 8vo (22 cm) in early 3/4 morocco, spine lettered and tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers and page edges; [2], vii, [1], [3]-246, [2], 108, [4] pp.

In 1806, Princess Caroline, wife of the Prince of Wales, had been accused of giving birth to an illegitimate child. At the Prince's behest, the government made a thorough and "delicate" investigation into the matter, but found the accusations unfounded. Sir Spencer Perceval, the editor of this volume and Caroline's chief defender during the inquiry,  would later earn the distinction of being the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated (1812). The Prince and Princess were one of the most notoriously ill-matched royal couples of all time, their marriage a fiasco from the first moment they met and only getting worse over the next twenty-five years. The Prince would attempt, unsuccessfully, to divorce her in 1820.

Binding with modest wear to the extremities, some sunning and spotting to the upper board, a hint of sunning to the spine; light toning to the leaves with occasional spotting (most noticeable on the first few leaves), one leaf with a closed tear, else clean and sound, firmly bound. Ownership signature and small engraved bookplate of Somerset G. C[…?], Royal Barracks, Dublin. February 1866. See our other auctions this week for additional items related to the life and lively times of George, Prince of Wales, a/k/a the Prince Regent, a/k/a George IV.