Diary of Anne Elizabeth Fisher, vol IV

Includes several pressed flowers and small printed cast list of comic opera (in French), with list of books read in 1855 at back. Notable entries include: (21 Mar) Sermon in Church for Fast Day for the [Crimean] War, including reference to [Florence] Nightingale; (28 Mar) French and English fleet going again to the Baltic; (19-20 April) visit of the Emperor and Empress of France, viewed from a shop window close to Somerset House and outside Buckingham Palace the next day, illuminations around London to greet the visitors; (2 May) visit to see Albert Smith's 'Mont Blanc' [at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly]; (3 May) visit to Windsor Castle, with description of the Emperor's and State Apartments; (9 May) visit to the British Museum, including the Library's special collections; (24 May) 'Henry VIII' at the Princess Theatre; (31 May-14 June) return to 'dear old Downing' [College]; (25 June) riots in Hyde Park at proposed Bill in Parliament to restrict traffic and close all shops on Sundays; (11 July) visit to Paris [where Annie was born], including detailed descriptions of her tour of the sights of the city and Versailles, while staying with Eliza [Godefroy]; (16 July) visit to the Exposition; (18-27 August) Queen Victoria's state visit to Paris, including descriptions of several events in her honour and (24 August) visit to the Hotel de Ville and (27 August) in Boulogne; (31 Aug) return to London; (6 Sept) christening of Mary Elizabeth Fisher [daughter of Professor William Webster Fisher at Downing], Annie's goddaughter in Cambridge; (10 Sept) news of the taking of Sebastopol by the allies, which arrived while at Cooke's Circus on Midsummer's Common - read aloud by Professor Fisher.