FORBES, Rosita. Adventure: Being a Gipsy Salad—Some Incidents, Excitements and Impressions of Twelve Highly-Seasoned Years. Together with D’ERLANGER, E. B. Quelques Souvenirs de France [My Souvenirs]. London: Cassell. 1928. The latter privately printed, 1978. 8vos. First editions. The pair bound in imitation green leather with four raised bands, gilt ruling and titles to spine, gilt borders and attractive clover motif to centre spelling ‘Zoe’, this being Zoe d’Erlanger, the daughter of the illustrator, Robin d’Erlanger, who illustrates this first volume, and granddaughter of Baron Emile Beaumont d’Erlanger, who wrote this second volume. ‘Adventure’ an association copy, inscribed by author Forbes to the illustrator, Robin d’Erlanger. The second with ownership signals of Zoe, and a three-postcard-length note from, we presume, a family member, addressed to Zoe. Both copies very good, the joints and corners gently rubbed and bumped, the bindings tight, some offsetting to first volume, but a bright set of volumes overall.
Rosita Forbes’s life might well read as a pro-suffrage action-packed drama—ambulance driver in the First World War; solo traveller across South Africa; adventurer, alongside her pal Undine, across over thirty countries including Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Malay States, Siam, Cambodia, China, and Korea, all the while avoiding gunshot scrapes from various armies and militia; tourist turned spy for the British authorities in Damascus; personal meetings with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, both of whom she contentiously wrote about… the list goes on and on (see Duncan Smith’s ‘Intrepid Traveller’ piece). Indeed, Google’s first photo of her has her cocking a shotgun in your direction. This is considered her most autobiographical work, and signed copies are scarce. The four colour plates by Robin d’Erlanger are superb. The second volume details the life and papers of Baron d’Erlanger, in French and in English, which we presume Zoe transcribed. The Erlangers were a notable banking family spanning three centuries. Emile Beaumont d'Erlanger’s wife, Kate, was a patron of the arts, supporting the careers of Romaine Brooks, Cecil Beaton and many others. A unique set.
FORBES, Rosita. Adventure: Being a Gipsy Salad—Some Incidents, Excitements and Impressions of Twelve Highly-Seasoned Years. Together with D’ERLANGER, E. B. Quelques Souvenirs de France [My Souvenirs]. London: Cassell. 1928. The latter privately printed, 1978. 8vos. First editions. The pair bound in imitation green leather with four raised bands, gilt ruling and titles to spine, gilt borders and attractive clover motif to centre spelling ‘Zoe’, this being Zoe d’Erlanger, the daughter of the illustrator, Robin d’Erlanger, who illustrates this first volume, and granddaughter of Baron Emile Beaumont d’Erlanger, who wrote this second volume. ‘Adventure’ an association copy, inscribed by author Forbes to the illustrator, Robin d’Erlanger. The second with ownership signals of Zoe, and a three-postcard-length note from, we presume, a family member, addressed to Zoe. Both copies very good, the joints and corners gently rubbed and bumped, the bindings tight, some offsetting to first volume, but a bright set of volumes overall.
Rosita Forbes’s life might well read as a pro-suffrage action-packed drama—ambulance driver in the First World War; solo traveller across South Africa; adventurer, alongside her pal Undine, across over thirty countries including Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Malay States, Siam, Cambodia, China, and Korea, all the while avoiding gunshot scrapes from various armies and militia; tourist turned spy for the British authorities in Damascus; personal meetings with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, both of whom she contentiously wrote about… the list goes on and on (see Duncan Smith’s ‘Intrepid Traveller’ piece). Indeed, Google’s first photo of her has her cocking a shotgun in your direction. This is considered her most autobiographical work, and signed copies are scarce. The four colour plates by Robin d’Erlanger are superb. The second volume details the life and papers of Baron d’Erlanger, in French and in English, which we presume Zoe transcribed. The Erlangers were a notable banking family spanning three centuries. Emile Beaumont d'Erlanger’s wife, Kate, was a patron of the arts, supporting the careers of Romaine Brooks, Cecil Beaton and many others. A unique set.
