Freida the Jongleur

London: Chapman and Hall, 193, Piccadilly, 1857. First Edition. 3 vols, 8vo. (206 x 137mm), pp. [4], 316; [4], 310, [2]; [4], 315, [1], 32, [4]. Publisher’s olive green cloth with a decorative design in blind, gilt spine, glazed endpapers. Presentation copy of Hemhill's final novel, with the first volume inscribed by Hemphill's son Charles H. Hemphill, 1st Baron Hemphill, PC QC (an Irish politician and barrister) to the Duchess of Bedford. Bound in at the back of volume three is a 32-page publisher's "Catalogue of Books" dated February, 1857, followed by a four-page advertisement (with specimen pages from Carlyle's French Revolution and Lever's Harry Lorrequer) dated February 2, 1857. Light sunning at the spines, a bright, near fine set in the original publisher's binding. OCLC locates only six copies. Loeber, A Guide to Irish Fiction 1650-1900. Set against the politics and pageantry of the late medieval court, Freida the Jongleur opens with the arrival of Charles de Valois in Munich and his intense, ill-starred passion for Beatrix Visconti. Hemphill combines chivalric display, dynastic ambition, and frustrated desire from the outset, suggesting a historical novel driven as much by court intrigue and emotional conflict as by scenic medieval color.