The Roxburghe Club

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MR DISRAELI AND MRS BRYDGES WILLIAMS, 1851-1863.

Sale Notes

Ordinary edition: 200 copies full bound in red cloth, blocked in gold on spine. Price: £175.00

Special edition: 35 copies for sale (of 100) bound in dark red Niger goat skin, with grey cloth sides and gilt edges, blocked in gilt on spine. Price: £300.00

Sale Vendor

Maggs

Notes

With a Foreword by Lord Rothschild. Edited with an Introduction by Andrew Roberts. The Roxburghe Club, 2006.

‘Do you know a mad woman living in Torquay called Mrs Brydges Willyams?’, asked Disraeli. Once re-assured that she was not mad, Disraeli accepted Mrs Brydges Willyams’ invitation to become her executor and residual legatee. There followed a twelve year correspondence between them of 250 letters that have not been published before in full. Considered too sensitive at the time of Disraeli’s death, the letters contain his comments and observations on people and events from 1851-1863. When Mrs Brydges Willyams died, Disraeli inherited the equivalent of £2 million in today’s values. The letters were preserved by Disraeli’s executors, one of whom became the first Lord Rothschild.

The present Lord Rothschild explains in his Foreword how the correspondence came to be at Waddesdon and why he has decided to publish it. The eight page introduction is written by Andrew Roberts, the historian, who has edited the letters and annotated them. There are eight pages of coloured plates. Printed in an edition of 300 copies.