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22
Samuel Gedge Ltd
ADELAIDE’S TRAVELS, DRAWN BY A MAID OF HONOUR
22. COURTENAY BOYLE, Carolina. Ten mezzo-tinto engravings, from original drawings
dedicated by permission to Her Majesty Adelaide the Queen Dowager by Her Majesty’s
dutiful, grateful & affectionate servant, Carolina Courtenay Boyle. Engraved by Louis
Marvy.
[London, Louis Marvy. 1848] First edition. Oblong folio. 10 loose sheets (43.5 x 30cm) of mezzotints (platemarks varying
in size but each approximately 13 x 20cm) in original grey wrapper with mezzotint title to cover, wrapper worn with
tears around edges, plates with some light spotting, one with two small marginal tears not touching image, very good.
This rare set of ten mezzotints was dedicated to
Adelaide, Queen Dowager (1792-1849) by the Hon.
Carolina Courtenay Boyle (1803-1883), one of her
maids of honour. They depict landscapes, most
appearing to be in Continental Europe, and in eight
out of the ten a pair of female figures on horseback
are pictured. After the death of William IV, Adelaide
travelled extensively in Europe in search of a warmer
climate to support her fragile health and it appears
highly likely that Courtenay Boyle sketched the
drawings on which these mezzotints were modelled
while accompanying her. It is a possibililty that the
two women depicted represent Adelaide and
Courtenay Boyle. In November 1838 Adelaide visited
Malta, remaining till March 1839. She also visited
Gibraltar and Madeira. Some of the locations depicted
here appear Mediterranean, while others perhaps
may depict Adelaide’s native Saxony. The engraver
Louis Marvy (1815-1850), a specialist in landscapes,
produced these mezzotints from Courtenay Boyle’s
drawings. Though undated it seems likely they were
produced in 1848 or 1849, during Marvy’s brief period
of residence in London before his death in 1850.
We have not been able to trace another set: not in
Copac, KVK or OCLC.
£950