Beschreibung:

American heiress in Paris, Rome & London.- [Wolseley (Anna Theresa, maiden name Murphy, daughter of Daniel T. Murphy, co-proprietor of Murphy, Grant & Co. of San Francisco, Wholesale Dry Goods Merchants, and Anna L. Murphy, married Sir Charles Michael Wolseley, ninth Baronet, of Wolseley Hall, Staffordshire, d. 1937)] [Diary], autograph manuscript, 193pp. excluding blanks, card of Viscount Savernake loosely inserted, purple silk endpapers, original maroon crushed and polished morocco, ornate gilt borders, inner gilt dentelles, brass lock and key, m.e., original cardboard box, worn, by Maquet, Paris, fine condition, 8vo, 28th April 1881 - 18th July 1884. ⁂ The diary of an American heiress in Europe and England. Murphy and her mother move in fashionable circles in Rome, Paris and London, including: an audience with Pope Leo XIII, refusing an offer of marriage from Luigi del Drago, being presented at the Court of St James, visiting Osborne where she sees Queen Victoria and Princess Beatrice, and her marriage at the Pro-Cathedral, Kensington, the marriage conducted by Cardinal Manning and shortly after her honeymoon, an audience with Cardinal Newman in Birmingham. Murphy's own inclinations to marriage were invested in George Brudenell-Bruce, styled Viscount Savernake and later fourth Marquess of Ailesbury (1863-94), a spectacularly bad choice as the viscount was a habitual gambler with an excessive lifestyle who nearly destroyed the Savernake estates. Eventually Murphy decides to accept an offer of marriage from Sir Charles Wolseley while staying on the Isle of Wight, where they see Queen Victoria and were given a tour of Parkhurst Prison by the deputy governor.