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644 p. 8vo. 1921. Quarter blue morocco, gilt embossed/stamped title on spine with raised hubs and compartments, gilt full leaf edges, marble boards & endpapers, bound by - stamped "J & E Bumpus LTD 350 OXFORD ST W." From the library of David Pleydell-Bouverie, inscribed "To Dorothy Pleydell-Bouverie from Isme"*. *From Izme Vickers, her sister, best known for her celebrated portrait painted by John Singer Sargent in 1907, currently on exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian). Measures: .75 W x 5 D x 7.5 H inches. Provenance: Hon. Stuart Pleydell-Bouverie DSO, OBE (1877-1947) of Radnor and Edith Dorothy Vickers (1878-1949). Stuart was the second son of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 5th Earl of Radnor (1841-1900), Viscount Folkestone, Baron of Longford and Baron Pleydell-Bouverie of Coleshill in the County of Berks & Baronet. Ownership passed to their son David Pleydell-Bouverie who was born in Godalming, Surrey, England on 20 Apr 1911. Besides being an aristocrat, David made a name for himself as a British Modernist architect. He married American heiress and socialite Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902-1956), daughter of John Jacob Astor IV and Ava Loel Willing, on 12 May 1946. During the Gilded Age, marrying British aristocrats was seen as a way for 'American Dollar Princesses' to raise their social status in return for much-needed wealth to an aristocrat, as speculated in this case based upon the inheritance custom of primogeniture in England previous to 1925. He and Ava Alice Muriel Astor were divorced in 1952. In 1978, David Pleydell-Bouverie donated the Bouverie Preserve, his large and ecologically diverse property of 535-acres in Glenn Ellen known for chaparral and riparian forests, waterfalls and magnificent spring wildflower blooms for conservation and education purposes to the Audubon Canyon Ranch (ACR). He passed away on 5 Dec 1994 in Glen Ellen, Sonoma, Ca, USA. CONDITION NOTES: Very good; light wear commensurate with age and use (e.g. gently sunned spine cover, sporadic wear at extremities), strong square spine/tight binding, clean light age-toned text pages. A nice copy. Seller Inventory # 002588
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