[WARD, ADOLPHUS WILLIAM ]. The Electress Sophia and the Hanoverian Succession. London: Goupil & Co., 1903.
First edition. Deluxe limited edition printed on Japanese paper, no. 53 of 250 copies. Presented in slipcase and including additional duplicate loose plates in vellum wrapper. Leather-bound. Hardcover. Folio (320 x 260 x 40 mm.), pp. [iv] v, [i], 254, [1] + plates with captioned tissue-guards outside the pagination. Beautifully bound in half leather by Bayntun [Riviere] (signed on the front endleaf with an ink pallet). Spine gilt ruled and tooled, the sides in blue cloth. Top edge gilt, other edges uneven. Marbled endpapers. Half-title page present, with limitation page to verso in red and black. Title-page printed in red and black with printers device. With 46 superb full-page plates including a hand-coloured portrait frontispiece. Elaborate chapter head- and tail-pieces. Decorative initials. Contents page to rear. Printing and engraving by Manzi, Joyant & Co. at Asnieres-sur-Seine near Paris. Condition: FINE. The book and duplicate set of plates are immaculate, the slipcase has some shelf wear. An exquisite example.
Notes: A study by Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, of Sophia Charlotte (1668-1705), Queen to Frederick I of Prussia and sister of George I of England. The first deluxe edition presented in rare slipcase, bound by Bayntun [Riviere] and including an extra suite of duplicate engraved plates held in a parchment case.
