Lot 23: KINGSLEY, Charles (1819-1875). The Water-Babies . London and New York: T.C. and E.C. Jack, and E.P. Dutton [1905].

KINGSLEY, Charles (1819-1875). The Water-Babies. London and New York: T.C. and E.C. Jack, and E.P. Dutton [1905].

8° (150 x 120mm). 8 colour plates after Katherine Cameron. (One leaf opened roughly with tear, light spotting on the edges.) Original cloth, colour plate mounted on the upper side, gilt border and lettering, top edge gilt. Provenance: Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (presentation inscription to:) -- Grand Duchess Anastasiia Nikolaevna (manuscript label of the classroom of the youngest Grand Duchesses in the Alexander Palace, Tsarskoe Selo) -- E.H. Mills (bookplate) -- Plaza Book Auction (sold, November 1933, lot 195) -- Sotheby's (sold, Russian Works of Art, 5 December 1997, lot 321).

GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIIA NIKOLAEVNA'S COPY, presented to her by Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, sister of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna: 'To darling Anastasie from her loving Aunt and Godmama Irene for Xmas 1908.' Anastasia was the youngest of Nicholas II's daughters, whose purported escape from Bolshevik execution was a rich mine for scriptwriters. In the 1920s Anna Anderson claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia; upon meeting her Princess Irene dismissed her as an impostor.

BARRY, Herbert. Russia in 1870.
Est. £700 - £900
($1,121 - $1,442)