Sir Charles Augustus Murray led a colourful life. The second son of the 5th Earl of Dunmore, he studied at Eton and Oxford, while at the latter betting he could ride the 60 miles to London and back in a day. Following a brief sojourn in Germany where he met the writer Goethe, he travelled to the United States in 1834. The following year, while still in America, he accompanied a group of Pawnee on their travels before visiting Cuba. In America, he met Elise Wadsworth and, due to the disapproval of her father, began an almost 15-year secret love affair, only communicating through a novel, written by Murray, called The Prairie-Bird (published 1844). The couple married in 1850 but she died in childbirth the following year.

In 1838, Murray joined Queen Victoria’s Household, initially as groom-in-waiting but only months later he became Master of the Household, a position he enjoyed until removed from post during Prince Albert’s reform of the Royal Household. He would go on to pursue a diplomatic career, serving in Egypt, Switzerland, Iran and Denmark. 

This book is his account of his American travels, presented to Queen Victoria on 27 June 1839. A note written on the fllyeaf above his inscription and dated 23 September 1839 states that this was the only copy of the work to be printed on large paper.