NELSON, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (his copy) - HORATIUS FLACCUS, Quintus (Horace).

£40,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace, Nelson's set, with armorial bookplate in each volume, and his right-handed signature to the rear pastedown of volume IV; the bookplates are annotated "Horatio Nelson" in the hand of his brother, William, first Earl Nelson (1757-1835), the set having been gifted to William's son, also Horatio (1788-1808). When a boy, Nelson was known in family circles as Horace.It seems that this set passed from Nelson to his nephew Horatio (1788-1808), who was styled Viscount Merton or Viscount Trafalgar. The younger Horatio was the only son of Nelson's brother, William (created Earl Nelson in 1805), but he died of typhus at Warne's Hotel, Conduit Street, Hanover Square, when he was nineteen. He is buried next to his illustrious uncle in St Paul's.Nelson was solicitous of his young namesake, who he referred to affectionately as Horace. While onboard Victory, he wrote to his brother saying, "With respect to Horace, you know so much better than I how to educate him... A good education and languages fit him for anything... But you may be sure, that in any way that I can be useful to Horace, whom I really love, nothing will be wanting on my part, as far as is within the reach of my abilities" (29 March 1804). The younger Horatio was at Eton between 1799 and 1806, so it is possible that this was presented to him by Nelson when he joined the college. A small slip of paper inserted at p, 49 in Volume I lists the names "Grove, Nelson, Campbell, Dawson, C

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