First edition. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made their first visit to Scotland in 1842, and Victoria recorded in her journal that ‘Albert says [that Dalkeith is] very German-looking’ (p. 13) – ‘[t]here could be no higher praise, and Victoria’s love affair with Scotland, which long survived her husband, began’ (ODNB). Following further visits to Scotland in 1844 and 1847, in 1848 Victoria and Albert bought Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, and rebuilt it between 1853 and 1855: ‘Balmoral provided privacy in abundance and, for Victoria, a kind of freedom unavailable elsewhere [...] Victoria and Albert embraced Scottishness wholeheartedly. Balmoral was bedecked in tartan, the children were dressed in kilts, and the whole family took to highland pursuits. They made expeditions (some in transparent incognito) to local beauty spots, climbed and rode in the mountains, attended the local highland games, and rowed on the loch. Albert studied Gaelic, hunted, shot, and fished; Victoria followed, often taking her sketchbooks with her’ (ODNB).

The first section of Leaves from the Journal describes the royal couple’s early visits to Scotland, and the main, central section describes their life in the Highlands between the purchase of Balmoral and Albert’s death in 1861. The final section, ‘Tours in England and Ireland, and Yachting Excursions’ describes two yachting trips in 1846, their first visit to Ireland in 1849, and a visit to the Lakes of Killarney in 1861. Written in the aftermath of Albert’s death in 1861, which caused his widow the most extreme grief, Leaves from the Journal’s dedication reads ‘To the dear memory of him who made the life of the writer bright and happy, these simple records are lovingly and gratefully inscribed’.

This copy bears the ownership signatures of the soldier G.H. Brand, who was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 3rd or Royal Westminster Light Infantry Regiment of Middlesex Militia in 1860, promoted to captain in 1867, and advanced to major on 5 June 1880, before retiring in 1882. Brand presumably acquired the volume between its publication in 1868 and his promotion to captain in 1880.

G.C. Boase and W.P. Courtney, Bibliotheca Cornubiensis (London, 1874-1882), p. 824; C. Cline, Women's Diaries, Journals, and Letters: An Annotated Bibliography (New York and London, 1989), 2772.

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