€950
Reminiscences of a Famine period Childhood in Waterford
Co. Waterford:
Power (Pearl) Written for her instruction and amusement and intended to be continued by her in the form of a Journal,.... [2], 80pp, dated 1843.
Margaret Mary Power, known as Pearl from the derivation of her name Margarita, was born 13 February 1839 in Dublin to apparently prosperous Catholic middle-class parents. The journal records the years of her childhood in meticulous detail: her near-miraculous survival of horrendous medical treatment in infancy; holidays in Tramore; visits to relations at Mount Richard, Carrick-on-Suir; and admission as a pensioner to the Ursuline Convent in Waterford on 16 October 1847.
The journal ends abruptly on Christmas Day 1847. The next few pages have been cut from the book, then after a brief entry for 12 February 1848 there is a terse announcement of Pearl's death (aged ten) at Eastlands, Tramore, on 26 November 1849. The remaining pages are blank, and the planned illustrations were never drawn.
There are many accounts of Victorian childhood, but few are as detailed and as poignant as this, with illustrated title page, in attractive decorative embossed full leather binding. As a m/ss., w.a.f. (1)
Coloured print frontis
Décor. title page
11pps (1 drawing) (1st hand)
Writing changes
Text – 69pps – (places for sketches) with notes (sketches not present)
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