Estate / Collection: Property from the Collection of Alistair Bradley Martin

[ROYAL BINDING]
[A YOUNG LADY]. Intellectual Sentiments, Explained by the Study of Sensations, by a Young Lady. London: Printed for Joseph Booker, New Bond Street, 1809. Blue marbled (or irregularly dyed) morocco by C.[harles] Meyer of London with his Hemmings Row ticket in pink, the covers stamped with a crowned "A" (likely for Princess Amelia, the youngest daughter of George III), surrounded with a panel composed of a leafy roll and rules, flat spine with a diapered design, lettered in the second compartment, Greek key dentelles, saffron moire silk paste-down and free endleaves, all edges gilt; housed in a clamshell case. 7 x 4 1/8 inches (17.5 x 10.5 cm); 191, [1] pp. Some very minor wear to extremities.

Charles Meyer was the bookbinder to George III and his family, (vide Ramsden, though Meyer's ticket here simply states he was binder "To the Queen and Princesses"). It seems that most of the latter owned copies of this little work, whose title reads "inscribed, by permission, to her Royal Highness the Duchess of York." We cannot trace the authorship, but the book clearly had a very excusive readership, and the "young lady" must have been socially prominent. We trace copies (all similarly bound by Meyer in various shades of morocco, most retaining his ticket) that were owned by Princesses Sophia, Charlotte, Mary and Elizabeth, as well as the Duke of Sussex and Prince George Augustus Frederick. An old catalogue entry suggests that this copy was bound for Princess Augusta, but she seems to have used an "AS" cypher on her bindings, so we are reasonably convinced that it was most likely bound for Amelia, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 27 in 1810, likely quite soon after receiving this. Her untimely death appears to have precipitated an episode of madness in the aging King, who held her in particular affection. See Ramsden London Bookbinders p. 106 for Charles Meyer.