LADY ALMINA AND THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY: THE LOST LEGACY OF HIGHCLERE CASTLE.** [Author SIGNED copy.]

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,SIGNED 1st edn,9th imp. [Complete number line 9.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn but author's expansive blue ink,felt-tip pen siganature - without dedication - to title page and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean, matt,montage'd colour photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with gilt border edges and gilt lettering,rear panel with montage'd monochrome familial photographs and illustration; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain dark blue cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj, author SIGNED,1st edn,9th imp,vii-xpp+1-310pp [paginated] includes contents list/table,a prologue,21 chapters and an epilogue,32pp historical,contemporary monochrome photographs in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece, between pp54/5,pp118/19,pp182/3 and pp246/7 respectively,acknowledgements,transcripts,and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title,author SIGNED title page and familial dedication.
Lady Fiona Carnarvon became the chatelaine of Highclere Castle - the setting of the hit TV series 'Downton Abbey' - eight years ago (then 2011).In that time she's become fascinated by the rich history of Highclere,and by the extraordinary people who lived there over the centuries.
One person particularly captured Fiona's imagination - Lady Almina,the 5th Countess of Carnarvon.
Almina was the illegitimate daughter of banking tycoon Alfred de Rothschild.She was his only daughter and he doted on her. She married the 5th Earl of Carnarvon,at 19,with an enormous dowry.
At first,life at Highclere was a dizzying mix of sumptuous banquets for 500 and even the occasional royal visitor.
Almina oversaw 80 members of staff - many of whom came from families who had worked at Highclere for generations.
But when the First World War broke out, life at Highclere, both upstairs and downstairs,changed forever.
History intervened and Almina and the staff of Highclere were thrown into one of the most turbulent times of the last century.Almina was forced to draw on her deepest reserves of courage in order to ensure her family,the staff and the castle survived.
This is the remarkable story of a lost time.But Highclere remains and in this book,Lady Carnarvon weaves Almina's journey and those of her family into the heritage of one of England's most exquisite Victorian stately homes.
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