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Darling, William; [Atkinson, Daniel Hopkin], (ed.) [Gift inscribed by Grace Darling’s niece].
The Journal of William Darling, Grace Darling's father: at the Brownsman and Longstone Lighthouses, Farne Islands, from the year 1795 to his retirement from the service of the Trinity House in 1860.
Publisher: Hamilton, Adams, and Co., London;
Date of Publication: 1886
Stock Code: 10097
First edition. Tall octavo, pp., [4], 92, [8]. Bound in teal cloth with parchment spine, gilt titles to upper board. With a contemporary gift inscription to the front free endpaper in an attractive flourished hand “Elizabeth Dixon Wooler from Georgiann Dixon, Bamburgh, January 28th 1888.” Georgiann Dixon was the daughter of Mary Ann Darling, Grace Darling’s sister, and her husband William Dixon Carr. A very good copy, tight and square with a touch of rubbing to edges, and light scattered foxing to prelims and back leaves. William Darling’s (1786-1865) diary account of his life as a lighthouse keeper was published more than 20 years after his death. It was this account that secured Grace Darling’s (1815-42) fame as the heroine of the Forfarshire wreck. William’s letter to the Secretary of Trinity House that details the Darling’s saving of nine lives from Big Harcar Rock is reproduced here, and is a masterly example of Victorian understatement. Inscribed by Grace Darling’s niece and William Dixon’s granddaughter, Georgiann Dixon (1840-94), also a resident of Bamburgh, to another family member, one Elizabeth Dixon Wooler. Rare, but especially so with a familial connection. £185.00