Tracks of a Rolling Stone
London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1905. Second Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good / No Jacket. Item #2326987
Second edition, released just five months after the original edition, with new preface and 'a few stories' added. Top corner of front endpaper absent, front and end matter faintly foxed.
359 pp. Photographic frontispiece. Index follows text. By the author of A Ride Over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon and California. "An amazing autobiography, the work completely chronicles the life of its author. From rare childhood memories to adult experiences, Coke has brilliantly captured the essence of his life. It not only impresses but inspires the readers to live their lives to the fullest." Howes C-549: "Incorporates some details of his 1850 overland trip not given in his earlier book." "The Honourable Henry John Coke was born in 1827 at Holkham, Norfolk, the son of Thomas William Coke (1754–1842), M.P. and 1st Earl of Leicester, and Lady Anne-Amelia Keppel (1803–1844), the daughter of the 4th Earl of Albemarle. Coke lived a roving life. He entered the navy in 1839, saw service in the Chinese War of 1840–1841, and left the navy in 1842 after the death of his father. He briefly attended Cambridge. He was in Vienna during the revolution of 1848, which led to the book Vienna in 1848 (1849). Afterwards, he crossed North America, ending California in time for the gold rush—which led to another book, A Ride over the Rocky Mountains (1852). In the 1850s, he stood unsuccessfully for parliament, served as private secretary to the Irish Secretary, and wrote two novels: High and Low (1854) and A Will and a Way (1858). In 1861 Coke married Lady Katherine Grey Egerton, the daughter of the Earl of Wilton, and thereafter lived a more settled life at Longford, the family estate in Derbyshire. In his memoir, Tracks of a Rolling Stone (1905), he recounts his many experiences. As his obituary sums up: 'He was taken as a youth to Holland House and kissed by its illustrious mistress; he breakfasted with Rogers; he was an habitue of Mrs. Thistlethwaite's drawing-rooms in Grosvenor-square; he saw the great fight between Sayers and Heenan, and was the guest of Napoleon III at Compiegne.' He died in 1916 in London." - At the Circulating Library: A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837-1901
Price: $75.00