Chase Insteadman Mountbatten Male. Pistoia, Italy

Più o meno dall'epoca del mio abbandono dei fumetti in favore dei libri ho cominciato a collezionare opere di Conrad; ad un certo punto li ho messi tutti in fila, sono stati tutti insieme per anni.. senza che mai ne abbia letto uno!
Arriva ora questo "il caso", mi pare per la prima volta in Italia, e l'idea di complessità e completezza che trasmette un libro lungo o medio-lungo (anche solo ad un primo approccio visivo), mi ha indotto ad iniziarlo.

The description of the party that managed to reach Britain from fom Germany on 24 April 1819, just a month before the birth of the baby girl, so that to allow her to be born on British soil and make possible her future accession to the Throne:

"[...] on the twenty-eighth of the month [of March], the Duke's party set off from Amorbach [Germany] for Calais, with several pet dogs and songbirds, in a strange, unwieldly caravan of carriages. The Duke and Duchess led the way in a phaeton, the Duke himself driving to save the cost of a coachman. They were followed by the Duke's barouche, containing the Duchess's lady-in-waiting, Baroness Späth, and Frau Siebold, a skilled obstetrician who had qualified as surgeon at the University of Göttingen. Then, trundling after them, came a spare, unoccupied post-chaise, followed by a second post-chaise containing the Duchess's daughter, Princess Fedora, her governess and the English midservants. Following these were a cabriolet with two cooks, a caravan with an English manservant looking after the royal plate, a second phaeton, two gigs (one containing the Duke's valet, Mathieu, and the Duchess's footman; the other, two clerks), and lastly a curricle with the Duke's personal phisician, Dr Wilson." pag. 11

"[...] she was later persuaded to tolerate the installation of gas lighting at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. But candles remained the preferred lighting at Balmoral since she considered 'this old-fashioned style cosier'. Towards the end of the Queen's life, Sarah Tooley was told that 'she does not take to the electric light and will not have it introduced into the Royal Palaces'(The Personal Life of Queen Victoria, 1901, 266). In fact, it was introduced, even in Balmoral, in the 1890s. 'It brightens up one's bedroom very much,' wrote Lady Lytton, 'but the Queen does not like it and feels the glare very much for her eyes [...]' Lady Lytton's Court Diary, 1961, 142)" pag.181