[Hortense de Beauharnais] Romances

Mises en musique, par Hortense Duchesse de Saint-Leu, ex Reine de Hollande. London, Dobbs & Co., n.d. (...), 15,(1) letterpress text pages, engraved title page, stipple-engraved portrait, engraved facsimile of a letter, 12 aquatint plates facing 12 engraved plates with sheet music (all by W. Read), contemporary gilt and blindstamped morocco, all edges gilt, oblong folio.

Trifle waterstained in top margin throughout bookblock, at the beginning also with serious inkblot in the same margin; here and there foxed. Endpapers renewed, binding stained and somewhat worn along edges. Hortense Eugénie Cécile de Beauharnais (1783-1837) was Queen of Holland and the mother of Emperor Napoleon III. She was also known as a composer; some of her compositions have been recorded in this richly illustrated work.