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ELEANOR HUNTINGTON LOVETT : 1910 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY OF A TEENAGE MASSACHUSETTS GIRL ON A GRAND TOUR OF ENGLAND AND A SAD WITNESS TO THE FUNERAL OF ONE KING TO THE PROCLAMATION OF ANOTHER

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is a delightful 1910 travel diary handwritten by a teenage American girl Eleanor Huntington Lovett [b. 1893] who spent nearly a year in England with her parents, traveling there on the fabled S.S. Minnetonka, of the Atlantic Transport Line. [Research suggests she is grand-daughter as one on-line source provides that "George Sydney Lovett, whose first wife was Caroline de Beelen. Their children were Louise D. Lovett, never married; Charlotte Lovett, never married and a son H W? Lovett who had four children Mrs. Arthur D. Whitcomb of Brookline, Mass., Miss Eleanor Lovett of Brookline, Mass., Louis de Beelen of Princeton, NJ., and Norman F. Lovett of NYC." Thusly Eleanor is a descendant in the bloodline of Baron Frederick Eugene Francois de Beelen de Bertholff.] Eleanor does a great job, in a cultured hand of giving us the grand tour of her trip. She details each particular place where they stayed; London, Isle of Wight, Salisbury, Exeter, Devonshire, Cambridge, and Windsor; all the tourist sites: castles, museums, and Stonehenge, but the family especially loved churches and she made a list of the 30 or so they visited while there, drawing a cross beside the churches at which she actually attended services. Of particular interest to collectors and historians of the era this family was in England when King Edward died, and they were present at the king's funeral procession. Other activities described include tennis, croquet, and sailing. She also describes a trip taken to England with just her father a few years later but these entries are much more abbreviated. She has pleasant handwriting and serves her travel narrative up in week-long to month-long-or-more summaries of her experiences. Here are some snippets: "One afternoon, we drove over Salisbury Plain to Old Sarum and Stonehenge. Old Sarum is very interesting and very large, but the 'excavations' of it have just begun. Very little of Stonehenge now remains in comparison what it once probably was, but the Altar Stone, the Slaughter Stone and the Hele Stone all remain, as well as a number of the Stones of the Inner Circle. On the longest day of the year, the sun rises over the Hele Stone and shines on the Altar Stone." "On the 6th of May we heard of King Edward's death and on the 8th we heard King George V proclaimed King from the Guildhall and the Cathedral Close." "We spent three days with cousin Frederick, who took us (on the 20th) to see King Edward VII funeral procession--a most wonderful sight. Nine kings were present and huge crowds lined the route." Front section has 3 full-color pages and eight more 2-color pages. A 20" x 14" foldout map of the world glued to the inside back cover. A handwritten inscription on the first page reads: "Eleanor Huntington Sovelt from Cousin Julie, Christmas--1910." Diary measures approx. "5" x 6.5." Approx. 25 pages of entries.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+. Binding: Full-Leather

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