Memoirs of Count Grammont by Hamilton, Anthony - 1876: Edited, with notes by Sir Walter Scott

Chatto and Windus. London. 1876. Octavo. xxxii, 368pp. 64 portrait plates engraved by Edward Scriven. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards. Spine in six compartments with raised banding, each compartment with gilt rules, motifs and decoration, leather label with gilt lettering. Marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. Some shelf wear to edges, corners a little rubbed and bumped. Some spotting to the frontispiece and title page. Occasional offsetting of portrait plates. Text crisp and bright. A handsome firm binding. Provenance of interest: from the library of Rev. John Bowen Rowlands of Hubberston. Inscribed to the free endpaper, "John Bowen Rowlands, Hubberston Rectory, 8 September 1894" Reverend J.B. Rowlands (1844-1928), Trinity College 1857; M.A. Balliol College, the son of the Haverfordwest architect, Thomas Rowlands. He became rector of Hubberston, Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1869. During his years there he gained the reputation of being a powerfully eloquent and accomplished preacher. It was said that people would walk miles in order to hear one of his services. Anthony Hamilton (c. 1645-1719), Antoine Comte d'Hamilton, Irish/Scottish Catholic soldier and a writer. He fled as a child with his parents to France during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. "Hamilton's decision to write the memoirs of his brother-in-law Philibert, Count de Gramont, was originally taken in 1704, while the two men were at Séméac in Gascogne, two years before Gramont's death in January 1707. The first part of the memoirs contains an entertaining account of Gramont's early life in France, but the work's fame largely rests on the second part. This is concerned with Gramont's life at the court of Charles II between 1662 and 1664, and is based on Hamilton's own experiences as well as the recollections of his friend. It provides a detailed and invaluable description both of the Restoration court and of its leading courtiers, concentrating on their various intrigues and love affairs." Edward Scriven (1775-1841) Eminent English engraver of portraits