Speeches, 1900, Inscribed by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Inscribed by Holmes to Lady Evelyn Charteris Vesey, Viscountess de Vesci Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. [1841-1935]. Speeches. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1900. [vi], 86 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"). Original printed paper-covered boards, deckle edges. Moderate rubbing and dampstaining to boards, moderate rubbing to extremities with wear to spine ends and corners, which are lightly bumped, armorial bookplate of Lady Evelyn Charteris Vesey, Viscountess de Vesci, designed by Charles William Sherbourn, to front pastedown. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing in places, mostly to gutters, presentation inscription from Holmes partially overwritten by annotation by Lady de Vesci to front free endpaper. Six-page offprint, moderately toned and edgeworn, with two horizontal folds and short clean tears to several leaves along folds, titled "Speech of Mr. Justice Holmes at a Dinner of the Harvard Law School Association of New York, On February 15, 1913," laid in. Housed in custom clamshell box, dark green quarter morocco over cloth, gilt title and gilt-edged raised bands to spine. $1,500. * Fourth edition. The inscriptions read: "Sent me by" (Lady de Vesci) and "from the author" (Holmes). (The first word of Holmes's inscription is partially overwritten by the final word of Lady de Vesci's.) Lady de Vesci [1849-1939] was typical of the women who attracted Holmes during his visits to Great Britain. Born into the aristocratic Charteris family, the daughter of Francis Richard Charteris, 10th Earl of Wemyss [1818-1914], a Whig politician of Scottish descent, she was married to John Robert William Vesey, 4th Viscount de Vesci, 5th Baron Knapton and 1st Baron de Vesci [1844-1903], an Anglo-Irish peer and army officer who sat in the House of Lords and served as Lord Lieutenant of Queen's County, Ireland. Lady de Vesci was a member of an elite intellectual and artistic social circle known as The Souls, which included many distinguished British politicians. John Singer Sargent, a member of this group, painted portraits of Lady de Vesci and her father.
Price: $1,500.00
Book number 82298