Prince Charles Edward by Lang, Andrew - 1900

London, Paris, New York, Edinburgh: Goupil & Co, 1900. First Edition, Limited No. CLI of CCL copies. Large thick 4to. vii, 300 pp. Striking hand colored frontispiece (& second gravure plate); 47 gravures(including 40 in two versions) with titled tissue guards. Printed on Japanese paper. Armorial bookplate of William Strang Steel to front pastedown. Finely bound for William Brown of Edinburgh in full green morocco with gilt ruling & decoration and gilt armorial stamp of Prince Charles Edward's royal seal on covers; raised bands and gilt ruling, decoration & lettering to spine; top edge gilt; gilt morocco & silk doublures inside front and rear covers. Spine browned; 2" at upper front joint starting; small number label inside front board; minor wear to extremities; minor scrape on rear cover; else a near fine copy. A detailed monograph on Prince Charles Edward (1720 - 1788), elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain after 1766 as "Charles III". During his lifetime, he was also known as "the Young Pretender" and "the Young Chevalier"; in popular memory, he is "Bonnie Prince Charlie". He is best remembered for his role in the 1745 rising; his defeat at Culloden in April 1746 effectively ended the Stuart cause, and subsequent attempts failed to materialise, such as a planned French invasion in 1759. His escape from Scotland after the uprising led to his portrayal as a romantic figure of heroic failure.