THE WELLINGTON SOUVENIR -- A GOLDEN RECORD!

London: Simpkin & Marshall, 1852. FIRST EDITION. 153 x 102 mm. (6 x 4"). 64 pp.
Publisher's deluxe red pebble-grain morocco, gilt, covers with graceful Romantic-style frame, central panel of upper cover with gilt lettering, that of lower cover with gilt ornament, spine blind-stamped to resemble raised bands, panels with gilt ornament, gilt turn-ins, pale yellow endpapers, all edges gilt. With title page vignette, frontispiece portrait of Wellington, and three full-page engravings of battles. Printed entirely in gilt on "enamel" gloss paper. Front free endpaper with faint pencilled signature. Binding very slightly soiled, joints and extremities a little rubbed, trivial soiling to front endpapers, otherwise quite a fine copy, the text entirely clean, fresh, and bright, with sparkling gold.

This now-scarce, luxuriously produced little volume celebrates the life and military achievements of Arthur Wellesley, Field Marshall and 1st Duke of Wellington, perhaps the most widely admired Briton of the 19th century--and does so in glittering fashion. The key facts of Wellington's life and the decisive battles of his storied career are related here in sparkling gold text and images on alabaster white pages. Poet laureate Tennyson's funerary ode described Wellington (1769-1852) as "the last great Englishman," and his death evoked great mourning in response to his life of public service. DNB notes that his defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, crushing the emperor's ambition for European dominance, put him in a class of his own: "No man, certainly no Briton, had ever been in such a situation before in Europe, the object of universal hero-worship and gratitude." Wellington was particularly notable among senior military officers for his determination to lead his troops on the frontline in battle. The three battles depicted in the illustrations here attest to this: in "The Battle of Assaye," we see him on horseback (two horses were shot from under him during the conflict), wielding his sword as he bears down on enemy cannon. At the "Battle of Vittoria," he is shown leading the infantry to face the enemy, with bayonet fixed. And in the decisive "Battle of Waterloo" scene, he is once again with the cavalry, wheeling to attack the advancing French. The frontispiece shows Wellington astride his famed horse, Copenhagen, who was his mount at Waterloo. Our volume concludes with a chronology of principal events in the duke's life. It is notable that such a handsome memorial work was produced so quickly after Wellington's sudden death on 14 September 1852: a contemporary ad in Bent's Literary Advertiser notes our title was published on 15 November, three days before Wellington's state funeral on the 18th. Copies of this work are rare: we could trace no auction sales, and OCLC records only seven copies, just one in North America..