Journal of Countess Fran�oise Krasinska Great Grandmother of Victor Emmanuel, attributed to Klementyna Tanska Hoffman, translated from the Polish by Kasimir Dziekonska

Chicago, IL: A.C. McClurg and Company, 1896. 10 x 16 cm. Fascinating account of a young Polish noblewoman, from 1759 to 1761 as author relates her adventures as in a journal. She begins, at age 16 in the Castle at Maleszow on New Year's Day. She tells about her life, her visits to Warsaw, about the King, Augustus III, her sister Basia's forthcoming marriage, and apologizes for disparaging comments about the Staroste, whom she will marry. Her own marriage is dreadful, conducted in strict secrecy before dawn, to the Duke of Courland. The journal ends at that point. The Countess lives a wandering life, in convents in Warsaw and Cracow, her fickle husband returns from time to time, but their marriage is kept secret, to spare the old king the shock. She finally joined him in Saxony, he clung to her and they lived happily. They had one child, Marie Christine, who married the Duke of Savoy. They had two children, a girl who married the King of Lombardy-Venice and a son, who became the father of Victor Emmanuel. Both the King and Queen of Italy are the great-great grandchildren of Fran�oise Krasinska (1895). With illustrations including portrait of the Countess at frontispiece. Decorated maroon cloth on board, spine missing, thus poor. . Catalogs: Biography.