The Victoria Regia was a collection of prose and poetry, published in order to demonstrate the work of the Victoria Press (for the employment of women). Its founder, Emily Faithfull, was a leading light in the Society for the Promotion of the Employment of Women, who had deemed that the highly skilled job of compositor (type setter) was work that women could be trained to do. The work was dedicated to Queen Victoria, and edited by Adelaide Anne Procter, a poet and another champion of work for women. Her best known poem was A Lost Chord which was set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1877 and became one of his best known works.

The poems and prose, around 50 pieces in total, came from a variety of authors including some of the most famous authors of the mid-nineteenth century, including the Poet Laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson ; Anthony Trollope and William Thackeray. 

The book shared its title, Victoria regia, with the scientific name for the giant water lily used until the Queen's death in 1901, when it was changed to Victoria amazonica. The plant was named after Victoria on its classification by John Lindley in 1837, the year of the Queen's accession (see RCIN 1122366). The water lily is illustrated on the page facing the dedication, a poetic explanation of the title:
"When on the shining waters of the west / an English traveller saw the queen of flowers / he sought a name whereby might be exprest / the chiefest glory of this world of ours. / Victoria Regia! -- Never happier name / a flower, a woman, or a Queen could claim! / So we this title with due reverence chose / for this our flower, which we aspire to lay / at her dear feet round whose dominion flows / the perfect light of undeclining day. / Victoria Regia! May our blossom hold / in pure white leaves a loyal heart of gold"

Inscribed on the flyleaf: 'Presented to Her Majesty the Queen being a copy of the first work published & printed by women at the Victoria Press. Emily Faithfull. Dec. 1861'.