A Thousand Miles up the Nile

[PoC]

I just picked this book up off Amazon (for £12!) after watching a recent BBC programme about Sir Flinders Petrie.

Inside the front cover is an inscription made in an Edwardian hand; unfortunately I can't make out all the words. I was wondering if anyone with better deciphering skills than me might be able to complete it?

[Cthimothy]

"I purchased this interesting and clean book in memory of our friend the authoress Miss Amelia B. Edwards with whom we stopped (?) for six weeks in the Hotel Russia Rome in 1872"

Edit : I also have a copy of this book; I really must read it now

[Isis]

I just picked this book up off Amazon (for £12!) after watching a recent BBC programme about Sir Flinders Petrie.

Inside the front cover is an inscription made in an Edwardian hand; unfortunately I can't make out all the words. I was wondering if anyone with better deciphering skills than me might be able to complete it?

Can't make out the name...
"I purchased this interesting and --- book in memory of our friend the authoress Miss Amelia B. Edwards with whom we stopped for six weeks in the Hotel de Russia, Rome in 1872.,
The Downs, ----, 16th June 1909".

[griffin]

Hi, I can't claim to be any expert on Edwardian writing, but it looks like to me: "I purchased this interesting and clean/clear? book in memory of our friend the authoress Amelia B Edwards, with whom we stopped for five weeks in the hotel de Russia? Rome? in 1872".

[Keeper]

Here is my transcription:

"F. S. Stoney(?)

I purchased this interesting and ____ book in memory of our friend tha authoress Miss Amelia B. Edwards with whom we stopped for six weeks in the Hotel De Russia Rome in 1872.

The Downs

_________16 June 1909"

A friend of mine was the reader of this book on Librivox.org. It was quite interesting!

[PhoneCallOfCthulhu]

I guess it is "Hotel de Russie Rome". "Hotel de Russie" is written in french .

[Keeper]

That word in front of the final date is giving everyone fits. Is that first letter a "D" or an "I" or something else? I'm pretty sure the last letter is "y"..

[Keeper]

I'm going to go with "The Downs" and "Delgany" .. a google search found this: http://protectedplanet.net/sites/Gle...Nature_Reserve and Maybe the book was purchased there.

[PoC]

..interesting and ?clever? book...

A bit of rummaging around the internet shows that the Hotel de Russie has been in operation since the early 1800s (with a few changes of use in-between before becoming a hotel again). Apparently it was *the* place to stay in Rome if you were on The Grand Tour.

Amelia B. Edwards seems an interesting Lady of her time. On her death she bequeathed monies to found the Edwards Chair in Egyptology at University College London, the first holder of that chair being of course, Flinders Petrie.

The edition pictured above is the 1891 2nd edition published by George Routledge and Sons (London).

16th June 1909 was a Wednesday.

[PoC]

I'm going to go with "The Downs" and "Delgany" .. a google search found this: http://protectedplanet.net/sites/Gle...Nature_Reserve and Maybe the book was purchased there.

The book was purchased from an Irish bookseller.

[Cthimothy]

..interesting and ?clever? book...

I opted for 'clean' as it's a standard descriptor in the second-hand book trade, but it does look more like 'clever'.

[PoC]

Here is my transcription:

"F. S. Stoney(?)

HEADSTONES AT CHRIST CHURCH, DELGANY

No.7"Not Lost but Gone Before" | MARY MOORHOUSE STONEY | (Darling May) | daughter ofLt. Colonel STONEY | Born 13 Ap. 1883, Died 9th Feb. 1898 | "Blessed are thepure in heart" | also the above | Lieut. Colonel | FRANCIS SADLEIR STONEY | LateRoyal Artillery | aged 93 years | died 10th July 1927.

http://www.igp-web.com/igparchives/i...es/delgany.txt

Lt.-Col. Francis Sadleir Stoney was born on 17 February 1834.¹ He was the son of Reverend Ralph Stoney and Abigail Sadleir.¹ He married, firstly, Catherine Jane Lawe, daughter of Robert Lawe, on 31 July 1867.¹ He married, secondly, Emma Sophia Christina Durrant, daughter of Christopher Mercer Durrant, on 11 June 1872.¹ He died on 9 July 1927 at age 93.¹
He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin University, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland.¹ He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the Royal Artillery.¹ He wrote the book The Life and Times of Sir Ralph Sadleir Secretary of State to Henry VIII.¹ He held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.).¹ He lived at The Downs, Delgany, County Wicklow, Ireland.¹ He lived at Little Heath, Kent, England.¹

Francis Sadleir Stoney

Books by F.S. Stoney

He would have been 75 when writing the inscription and 38 in 1872 when he (and his second wife) met Miss Edwards. (On their honeymoon?)

Amelia Edwards was in Rome in 1871-1872 and began her trip up the Nile the following year (1873). The first edition of A Thousand Miles up the Nile was published in 1877.

[Keeper]

OooO! I think that's him!

"He lived at The Downs, Delgany..."

Audio version of the book on Librivox



Also, I am sure now that it's "interesting and clever book" now that I've looked at some of the other letters in the inscription specifically.

[PhoneCallOfCthulhu]

Hehe. Good detective job everyone!

[Keeper]

Paul, what fun to have a book that came with a history mystery. Congrats!

(P.S. Please buy us another book.)