Pleydell-Bouverie, who was Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen and counted leading figures such as of Cecil Beaton, Coco Chanel, Salvador Dalí and Fred and Adele Astaire in her social circle, bought Julians Park in 1940 and from then set about redesigning the interior and creating a vast library collection.
Among her aristocratic acquaintances was George Lionel Seymour Dawson-Damer, Viscount Carlow, who established the Corvinus Press in early 1936 and was a keen book collector and typographer.
Being friendly with the leading authors of the day, Viscount Carlow was allowed by some to print their work at his press in limited editions, including new works by the likes of TE Lawrence, James Joyce, Edmund Blunden, HE Bates and others.
Highlights from the collection include a copy of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, shown here, which has an estimate of £4000-6000 at this Cambridge auction.
