GREY (Mrs. Theresa [William]).
Journal of a Visit to Egypt, Constantinople, the Crimea, Greece, etc. in the Suite of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
GREY (Mrs. Theresa [William]).
Journal of a Visit to Egypt, Constantinople, the Crimea, Greece, etc. in the Suite of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Mrs. Grey accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales on their Eastern tour in 1862. A privately printed version was issued in just three copies.
Mrs. Grey’s observations lend the account the distinct perspective of a woman with a focus on the dress, interactions, and treatment of women in Constantinople. Along with the Price and Princess of Wales, Mrs. Grey dined with the Sultan at ‘Dolma-Batchi’ [Dolmabahçe Palace] which is related as the first time the sultan ate with women or allowed anyone to be seated in his presence: ‘We were twenty-four at table, but twelve of the party were Turks, and looked so frightened and astonished that nobody ventured to speak a word’. Also includes an account between the Princess of Wales and the wife and mother of the Sultan along with the presentation of the Sultan’s young son and daughter ‘a European is hardly ever allowed to visit [the Harem] at Constantinople, and I think they told us it was fifteen years since such a thing had been allowed’. Among other firsts for the Sultan was his first ball (‘I cannot say he looked amused with the novelty of it’) and the first time he allowed ladies into his box at the theatre.
Scarce in commerce, with just two examples of the public edition located in auction records over the last fifty years: Sotheby’s, 1978 (GBP 75, inscribed by Queen Victoria to her daughter) and Sotheby’s, 2002 (GBP 597, the Atabey copy).
