[Presentation album of 80 etchings by Queen Victoria & Prince Albert]

by VICTORIA, Queen (1819-1901); and Prince ALBERT (1819-1861)

$125,000 · Offered by Biblio

[Windsor Castle, 1848. Folio. (19 x 14 inches). 80 etchings, all mounted India paper proofs, by Queen Victoria (57) and Prince Albert (23). Contemporary purple morocco, bound by Bignell, covers bordered with wide gilt fillets, upper cover with central lettering and Royal crowns in gilt, spine with raised bands in six compartments, ruled, stamped and lettered in gilt, silk moire endpapers, gilt edges Provenance: Sir Theodore Martin Incredible album of original etchings by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A talented amateur artist, Queen Victoria took up etching as a hobby, introducing the art to her husband shortly after their marriage in 1840. The royal couple etched frequently for about four years, the Queen being the more prolific, producing sixty-two plates as against the Prince's twenty-five. Both Sir George Hayter and Sir Edwin Landseer taught the royal couple. The plates were etched at Windsor Castle, sometimes with both Victoria and Albert working together on the same plate, and it is believed some proof impressions were pulled from a small press there. Some impressions were printed by the Queens dresser Marianne Skerrett, while many were rebitten and printed by Colnagh. However, very few of each of the etchings were printed, the pastime being largely for the royal couple's own amusement; an occasional print and a very few sets, like the present, were distributed as gifts. "The etchings offer a picture of the interests of the royal couple in their early married years.

• Year: 1848
• Binding: unknown

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