[Victoria, Queen--Strickland, Agnes]

12mo (200 x 120mm.), FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY TO QUEEN VICTORIA, SUBSEQUENTLY EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY THE QUEEN AND RETURNED TO THE AUTHOR, with marginal comments with 120 pages (85 pages in volume 1 and 35 pages in volume 2), portrait frontispieces, pictorial titles, original blue cloth, royal arms stamped in gilt on the upper board of each volume, blue cloth box, [with]: an autograph letter from George Anson, Prince Albert's private secretary inviting Strickland to collect the book ("Mr Anson...is anxious to see Miss Strickland on the subject of her Life lately published of Queen Victoria. Mr Anson is sorry to tell Miss Strickland that there are a great many inaccuracies in it..."), 2 pages, 8vo, 2 June 1842, with autograph envelope with faint pencil docketing ("From the Queen"); a typescript account of the history of the book from the Strickland family, 3 pages, folio; and three other letters and various documents relating to the loan of the book to the Librarian of Windsor Castle in the 1930s; both volumes split at inner hinge, vol.1 also with split at pp.48-49, a few small spots of soiling to upper board of vol. 1

Agnes Strickland; by descent; sale, Sotheby's London, 15 December 2011, lot 6

Condition is as described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A COPY OF STRICKLAND'S EXTREMELY RARE BIOGRAPHY OF QUEEN VICTORIA, ANNOTATED AND CORRECTED BY THE SUBJECT THROUGHOUT.

Agnes Strickland (1796-1874) was already an established historian when publisher Henry Colburn commissioned her to write an account of the life of Queen Victoria to mark the occasion of her wedding. With her sister Elizabeth, she had already published several parts of their Lives of the Queens of England, a series which eventually ran to twelve volumes.

It was Colburn himself who provided much of the source material for the biography of Victoria. The night before the wedding itself, Colburn and Strickland's attempts to secure a ticket for the ceremony finally succeeded. Her two volume work appeared shortly afterwards, and a copy was duly presented to the Queen. 

The Queen however was not best impressed with Strickland's account. Despite the effusive tone of the writing and the favourable portrait of the Queen the book presented, Victoria was so irritated by its inaccuracies that she annotated this copy with her own - often caustic - comments and revisions, and then had it returned to the author. So upset with the offense that the publication had caused, Strickland and Colburn were rumoured to have had all the remaining copies of the book pulped. Strickland's younger sister, Jane, recalled: "The sale was stopped and where ever Miss Strickland was able to do so, she bought in those already out and destroyed them.

AS A RESULT THE TITLE IS A RARITY IN ITSELF, with the only known copies listed in copyright libraries. This is the only copy that has appeared at auction in recent years.

Although the story of Victoria's disapproval has long been known, this copy provides remarkable evidence of the response the book elicited from the monarch. Over a hundred pages found disfavour, with many paragraphs marked and annotated tersely "not true", "quite false", and even "nonsense". On other pages she has struck through the offending details completely.

No error was seemingly too small to attract Victoria's attention. Names, dates and places are amended, and in one case, she even corrects Strickland's description "her fair hair was simply parted" to "in plaits". In particular, Strickland's imagined childhood meetings between Albert and Victoria evoked repeated correction.

Often, it was Strickland's tendency for exaggeration which met with disdain: the note "the Queen only gave 1 or 2 concerts of 100 people" appears next to a particularly gushing account of "her majesty's first soirée, upwards of two thousand gentlemen were present and the crowd was so tremendous that diamond buckles were broken or lost..." A description of Princess Sophia Matilda as "beautiful as an angel, and graceful as a nymph, the very beau ideal of a royal lady..." is dismissed as simply "absurd".

Once returned to Strickland, the volumes remained with her descendants for the next 170 years with only one exception. In 1932 the family received a request from the royal household; George V wanted to see the book which had so enraged his grandmother. The book was duly sent to England and later returned to the family.