Beschreibung:

(Princess, Chiefess of Haapiti, later Mrs George Darsie, 1842-98) Jour après Jour [Birthday Book], signatures, including: Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught; Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh the Duchess of Edinburgh and their children, colour printed plates of flowers, some offsetting, ink presentation inscription in French at beginning, ALs from G.F. Bambridge, Private Secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh returning the book with signatures, some visiting card loosely inserted, including: Mrs Darsie, Lord Brassey etc., handsomely bound in full red crushed and polished morocco, gilt, gilt initials "GD" on upper cover, g.e., cloth box, 8vo, 1885. *** Princess Titaua was the eldest child of the marriage between an English father and the sister of Queen Pomare IV. Queen Pomare adopted Titaua in accordance with custom and she was given the royal name, Tetuanui-reia-ite-raiatea, meaning The Great God whose Power extends to the heavens.She married first, at the age of 14, John Brander from Elgin, the owner of the biggest trading house in the South Pacific. As the wife of one of the most important men in Tahiti, Princess Titaua played a prominent role in the life of the island, not always pleasing the French authorities. She met Robert Louis Stevenson the Scottish painter, Constance Gordon Cumming and Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria's second son, who gave her a turquoise and diamond pendant in token of his admiration. After Brander's death she married the firm's manager George Darsie and went to live at Anstruther in Fife.