£295.00
The House of Windsor: A Book of Portraits. London: Methuen & Company Limited, 1937. First edition.
An imposing large-format commemorative portrait volume devoted to the British Royal Family, published in the significant year of 1937, following the abdication of Edward VIII and the accession and coronation of King George VI.
Illustrated with nineteen portrait plates, representing members of the House of Windsor including King George V, Queen Mary, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, the young Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret Rose, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Princess Royal and the Duke of Windsor.
Of particular appeal is the portrait of the future Queen Elizabeth II as a young Princess Elizabeth, reproduced many years before her accession to the throne.
Bound in substantial cream cloth, the upper board lettered and decorated in gilt with the Royal Arms. The photographs show some age-related toning and surface marking to the cloth, but the gilt remains bright. Internally well presented, with attractive deckled edges and some light occasional spotting and toning consistent with age.
Year: 1937
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Methuen & Company Limited, 36 Essex Street, Strand, London
Subject: British Royal Family / House of Windsor
Illustrations: 19 portrait plates
Published in 1937, The House of Windsor appeared at one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the modern British monarchy.
Only months earlier, Edward VIII had abdicated, bringing his brief reign to an extraordinary end and placing his younger brother Albert unexpectedly upon the throne as George VI. The volume itself acknowledges these exceptional circumstances, describing how George VI had been summoned to ascend the throne and was to be crowned on 12 May 1937.
The book also looks backwards. It recalls the accession of the young Queen Victoria exactly a century earlier in 1837 and explains how the Royal House acquired the name Windsor in 1917, when George V abandoned the German dynastic name during the First World War.
Yet viewed today, perhaps the most evocative portrait in the collection is that of Princess Elizabeth. In 1937 she was only eleven years old. Following her uncle’s abdication and her father’s accession, she suddenly became heir presumptive to the British throne. Fifteen years later she would become Queen Elizabeth II, beginning a reign that lasted seventy years.
The volume therefore captures the Royal Family at a remarkable historical turning point: Edward VIII had become the Duke of Windsor, George VI was beginning his reign, and the young Princess Elizabeth had unexpectedly moved into the direct line of succession.
This is much more than a conventional royal portrait album. Its 1937 publication date places it directly within the constitutional upheaval created by the abdication crisis and the establishment of George VI’s new reign.
The inclusion of both the Duke of Windsor and the young Princess Elizabeth makes the portrait sequence particularly evocative. Within the same volume appear the monarch who relinquished the throne and the child who, as a consequence of that decision, was placed on the path that ultimately led to her becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
The large format, gilt Royal Arms, deckled paper and nineteen portrait plates also give the volume considerable decorative presence. It is particularly suitable for a collection devoted to the British monarchy, George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, the abdication crisis or twentieth-century British history.
