Description

Frances Bunsen (1791-1876) published this account of the life of her husband, the Prussian diplomat and scholar Christian Karl Josias, Baron von Bunsen (1791-1860) in two volumes in 1868. Bunsen served as Prussian ambassador to Great Britain for thirteen years between 1841 and 1854, a critical period in European politics that culminated in the 1848 revolutions and the political turmoil that ensued. The memoir is based on Bunsen's family papers and private correspondence and was prepared at his request. It is illustrated with woodcuts and lithographs. Volume 1 covers Bunsen's early life in Waldeck; his education in Marburg and Göttingen; his marriage; his relationship with the scholar and statesman Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776-1831); his time in Rome as envoy to the papal court; his first trip to England; and his acceptance by Queen Victoria as Prussian ambassador to Great Britain.