?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(TRAVEL.) Tucker, William W. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Alexis in the United States of America during the Winter of 1871-72. [4], 221, [2] pages. 8vo, contemporary 1/2 morocco, moderate wear, backstrip head coming loose, gilt spine title reading "Grand Duke Alexis"; front free endpaper coming detached; marbled edges; warmly inscribed by the author as "Bill" to his Aunt Amelia and Uncle Harry on the front flyleaf. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1872
First edition, second issue, with Tucker's name added as author on the title page, of which some were issued without the photographic frontispiece of the Duke. Apparently 50 copies of the first issue were printed for distribution by naval captain G.V. Fox, and 212 of the second issue for Tucker. The book describes the tour of the United States by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia (1850-1908), son of Tsar Alexander II. This well-publicized quasi-diplomatic mission lasted for 8 months, during which his entourage met with countless dignitaries and toured through the American east, midwest, west, and south. Highlights included a meeting with President Grant, and visits to Niagara Falls, recently burned Chicago, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Most notably, the Duke was treated to a Nebraska buffalo hunt with General Philip Sheridan, Buffalo Bill Cody, Texas Jack Omohundro, Colonel George Armstrong Custer, and Sioux chief Spotted Tail--described in detail on pages 152-178. The book also contains the first printing of a letter by John Greenleaf Whittier, page 96; a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, page 97-98; and a speech by James Russell Lowell, pages 102-4. BAL 8883, 13141, 21908; Livingston, Lowell Bibliography page 84; Streeter sale VII:4098.
