{"title":"Martyn Downer","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the captivating world of Martyn Downer, celebrated for his insightful explorations of British history and country life. Discover enthralling narratives that bring the past vividly to life, page by page.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"nelson-s-purse-book-martyn-downer-9780552150859","title":"Nelson's Purse","description":"For nearly two centuries, a red morocco dispatch box lay forgotten in a castle attic. When Martyn Downer opened the box and broke its spell, he uncovered a cache of fascinating and intimate letters relating to the life of Britain's greatest naval hero, Horatio Nelson. As Downer explored the castle, he went on to find a treasure trove of never-before-seen objects, including Nelson's swords, medals, porcelain, guns and even the purse he was carrying on the day he was shot at Trafalgar in 1805, still containing its gold coins. When Nelson died, these objects were passed on to his closest business associate, Alexander Davison, whose descendants had kept them without knowing their enormous historical significance. As Downer identifies each item and its provenance, fresh insights are revealed into the personal and domestic lives of Nelson, his jilted wife Fanny and his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton. Rarely, if ever, have Nelson and his circle been brought so vividly and palpably to life. Nelson's Purse is an extraordinary historical detective story that will change our view of Lord Nelson forever.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49515227775249,"sku":"GOR001304554","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49563097170193,"sku":"GOR001978576","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50354367365393,"sku":"CIN0552150851G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50762373955857,"sku":"CIN0552150851A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0552150851.jpg?v=1751040224"},{"product_id":"nelsons-purse-book-martyn-downer-9780593051801","title":"NELSONS PURSE","description":"At the beginning on July 2002, Sotheby's announced to the world the discovery of a major cache of material relating to the life of England's greatest naval hero, Horatio Nelson. The man who made this extraordinary find and who subsequently spent over a year of his life validating the material and placing it in the context of Nelson's life and relationships was Martyn Downer, Head of Jewellery at Sotheby's in London. The contents of this once-in-a-lifetime discovery are remarkable  -  some objects were thought to have been lost, others had previously never been known to have existed. A mongst the latter is a remarkable archive of letters from Nelson's jilted wife, Fanny, detailing the breakdown of their marriage. For the first time, thanks to this find, Fanny's role in Nelson's life acquires real biographical substance. Also in the find are medals, swords, jewellery (including a stunning diamond brooch with the initials H and N gifted to Emma Hamilton), porcelain, weaponry, and other papers and letters (including some emotive letters by Emma and Nelson himself) which shed fascinating new light on Nelson's domestic affairs. Most dramatically, the cache also includes the bloodstained purse Nelson was carrying on the day he was shot on board HMS Victory in 1805, still containing its gold coins. Martyn Downer tells the extraordinary historical detective story behind this great find and its progress from discovery to auction. It is a story which reveals the intimate life of Nelson, his wife and his mistress in a way which has hitherto been denied to biographers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49519972024593,"sku":"GOR001319699","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49562335904017,"sku":"GOR000540399","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50262523478289,"sku":"GOR011517239","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50338163851537,"sku":"CIN0593051807A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50338742108433,"sku":"CIN0593051807VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50762444964113,"sku":"CIN0593051807G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593051807.jpg?v=1750698912"},{"product_id":"nelson-s-lost-jewel-book-martyn-downer-9780750968300","title":"Nelson's Lost Jewel","description":"Nelsons Lost Jewel tells the remarkable story of one of the most famous jewels in British history for the first time, and traces its journey from Constantinople to London. Secured for the nation by public appeal, it passed to the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich from where it was sensationally stolen in 1951, never to be seen again.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49536677675281,"sku":"GOR008769084","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50097120870673,"sku":"GOR011336345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50726306480401,"sku":"GOR008782345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51816640938257,"sku":"CIN0750968303VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0750968303.jpg?v=1751041983"},{"product_id":"queen-s-knight-book-martyn-downer-9780593054857","title":"The Queen's Knight","description":"Sir Howard Elphinstone, dashing miltary hero of the siege of Sevastopol, was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1858, aged just twenty-nine. As he recuperated from injuries he'd received during the campaign, the Queen installed this paragon of military valour at heart of her court at Windsor as guardian to her third and favourite son, Prince Arthur. Victoria wanted a soldier alongside her, as an antidote to the ageing ministers and courtiers who stalked the corridors. Intriguingly, as a young woman, before she was queen, Victoria had been completely smitten with Howard's cousin John, Lord Elphinstone, but he had been deemed an unsuitable match for a monarch. Having lost one military hero, she seemed determined to make sure it didn't happen again...The \"Queen's Knight\" tells an engrossing story of life at the gilded heart of Queen Victoria's court, via the extraordinary friendship between her and Howard Elphinstone, until his untimely death in 1890. It was at first a place of lavish parties and regular dances, as the miseries of the Crimean war faded and the Empire expanded to its zenith. The Queen and Prince Albert deliberately recreated Camelot, as an antidote to the dissolute image of previous generations of monarchs, and Elphinstone was the favourite knight at their round table. In the far more sombre days after Albert's death, Elphinstone became increasingly vital to the Queen, as evidenced by an extraordinarily candid and prolific corresponsdence between them, much of which has never before been published. Set in a sweeping global landscape populated by presidents, princes and prime ministers, The Queen's Knight visits Quebec, explores New York and travels down the Nile to explore the courts of Europe, many of which were about to be destroyed forever by war and revolution. Yet despite this broad canvas, it remains essentially a portrait of the close affectionate relationship between Victoria and Elphinstone. It sheds new light on Victoria's extraordinary life in presenting the frail, human being at the heart of a vast Empire.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49542960087313,"sku":"GOR001762167","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49620721828113,"sku":"GOR012689674","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0593054857.jpg?v=1751040753"},{"product_id":"sultan-of-zanzibar-book-martyn-downer-9780948238468","title":"The Sultan Of Zanzibar","description":"Il y a des ann es que les incidents dont je vais faire le r cit se sont d roul s, et pourtant j'h site   en parler. Longtemps, il eut  t  impossible, m me avec un maximum de discr tion et de r ticences, de rendre les faits publics; mais maintenant le principal int ress  est hors d'atteinte des lois humaines, et, avec les suppressions qui s'imposent, l'histoire peut  tre cont e sans faire de tort   quiconque. Elle relate une exp rience absolument unique dans la carri re de Sherlock Holmes aussi bien que dans la mienne. Le lecteur m'excusera de garder sous silence la date ou tout autre  l ment qui lui permettrait de retrouver les faits authentiques... R sum  de la nouvelle: Lady Eva Brackwell, qui doit se marier au comte de Dovercourt, demande   Sherlock Holmes de r cup rer certaines lettres compromettantes actuellement entre les mains de l'odieux ma tre-chanteur Charles-Auguste Milverton, qu'Holmes d teste. Comment Holmes et le Docteur Watson vont-ils venir   l'aide de Lady Brackwell, et sauver sa r putation ?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49548412256529,"sku":"GOR003044754","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50499548283153,"sku":"GOR003521210","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50785656635665,"sku":"GOR010536374","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50951708508433,"sku":"GOR007737351","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51686419038481,"sku":"CIN0948238461VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53356963922193,"sku":"CIN0948238461G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0948238461.jpg?v=1751397048"},{"product_id":"nelson-s-lost-jewel-book-martyn-downer-9780750994279","title":"Nelson's Lost Jewel","description":"Admiral Lord Nelson's diamond Chelengk is one of the most famous and iconic jewels in British history. Presented to Nelson by the Sultan Selim I of Turkey after the Battle of the Nile in 1798, the jewel had thirteen diamond rays to represent the French ships captured or destroyed at the action. A central diamond star on the jewel was powered by clockwork to rotate in wear. Nelson wore the Chelengk on his hat like a turban jewel, sparking a fashion craze for similar jewels in England. The jewel became his trademark to be endlessly copied in portraits and busts to this day. After Trafalgar, the Chelengk was inherited by Nelson's family and worn at the Court of Queen Victoria. Sold at auction in 1895 it eventually found its way to the newly opened National Maritime Museum in Greenwich where it was a star exhibit. In 1951 the jewel was stolen in a daring raid by an infamous cat-burglar and lost forever. For the first time, Martyn Downer tells the extraordinary true story of the Chelengk: from its gift to Nelson by the Sultan of Turkey to its tragic post-war theft, charting the jewel's journey through history and forging sparkling new and intimate portraits of Nelson, of his friends and rivals, and of the woman he loved.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49554439110929,"sku":"GOR012336227","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49734695780625,"sku":"NGR9780750994279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52993646264593,"sku":"CIN0750994274VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0750994274.jpg?v=1751361533"},{"product_id":"queen-s-knight-book-martyn-downer-9780552155083","title":"The Queen's Knight","description":"Sir Howard Elphinstone, dashing hero of the Crimean War, was awarded the Victoria Cross in 1858 aged just twenty-nine. Handpicked by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to be governor to their third son, Prince Arthur, Elphinstone made an uncertain start at court, uncomfortabe within its cliques and clashing frequently with the impassioned Queen. But after Albert's death in 1861, Elphinstone became not only a surrogate father to Arthur, but also Victoria's most trusted confidant.   Elphinstone's diaries and his prolific correspondence with the Queen shed remarkable new light on her complex personality and life at court. His story portrays in vivid detail the bitter rivalries and tragedies which rocked the palace during the Queen's long seclusion following Albert's death. It reveals the shocking effects of Prince Leopold's bleeding attacks, the security alarm caused by Irish republicans, and the truth behind Victoria's most notorious servant, John Brown.   Artist and soldier, bodyguard and diplomat, confidant and spy: Elphinstone is the forgotten hero of the Victorian court. The Queen's Knight restores him to his rightful place at the heart of the most remarkable royal family in British history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570387427601,"sku":"GOR002429040","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49658302398737,"sku":"GOR004412530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53193479356689,"sku":"GOR001807530","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/055215508X.jpg?v=1751198813"},{"product_id":"sultan-of-zanzibar-book-martyn-downer-9780948238437","title":"The Sultan Of Zanzibar","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49586732826897,"sku":"GOR002203345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50368708542737,"sku":"CIN0948238437VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53090005844241,"sku":"GOR004371491","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0948238437.jpg?v=1751364153"},{"product_id":"nelsons-purse-book-martyn-downer-9781588341846","title":"Nelsons Purse","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50271229542673,"sku":"CIN1588341844G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50885144871185,"sku":"CIN1588341844VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50938340704529,"sku":"GOR009884524","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51533633224977,"sku":"GOR010272344","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1588341844.jpg?v=1750991699"},{"product_id":"waterstone-s-free-autumn-books-sampler-book-roddy-doyle-9780099482673","title":"Waterstone's Free Autumn Books Sampler","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50343981023505,"sku":"CIN0099482673A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0099482673.jpg?v=1750693939"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-martyn-downer.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}