Our Notes & References

First English edition of this in-depth look at the history and struggle for independence of Serbia, “a valuable contribution to our very imperfect knowledge of a most interesting people” (Kerr, preface). With a frontispiece map of the region.

A choice copy, attractively bound in full morocco with Serbian arms and inscribed by the translator to a fellow lady. The book is rarely bound with such luxury; we could trace, in a 1958 dealer’s catalogue, another copy inscribed by Kerr, this time to the British Library librarian Anthony Panizzi: it was also bound in full leather (“russia extra”), but not mentioning arms.

“Brave, hardy, and simple people, contending for national independence and religious freedom, [Serbians are still] too little known to the rest of Europe. While the other countries of Europe have been overrun by the herd of English tourists, Servia and the neighbouring states separating Austria from Turkey are almost terra incognita; even to the travellers who visit Vienna and Constantinople” (Kerr). To prove her assertion, the translator underlines that History of Servia is one of the earliest English works about this subject, just following the 1845 Servia, the Youngest Member of the European Family by Andrew Paton, “yet the only writer who has made English readers acquainted with Servia” (Kerr).

One of the first modern works on the Balkan nation, Die Serbische Revolution (1829) by the historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) was inspired by eyewitness accounts of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804.

This first English translation, based on the second, augmented German edition of 1844, was the work of the English writer and composer Mrs. Alexander Kerr (pseudonym of Louisa Hay Kerr, 1806–1900). Presenting Serbia as a battleground between “European civilisation and Oriental despotism – between the Christian and Mahomedian religions”, both Ranke and Kerr emphasise the need for European intervention to support this nation: “It is not until Christianity – a vital religion, purified from fanaticism and superstition – becomes firmly established in the hearts of a people and the institutions of a country, that the duties and rights of man can be fully understood and truly observed, or that the character and influence of woman can be rightly appreciated” (Kerr).

Ranke’s work meticulously documents Serbia’s path from a kingdom to a Turkish province, detailing its developments and struggles for independence up until the rule of Alexander Karađorđević (also known as Alexander Kara Georgewitsch, 1806–1885), who was elected Prince of Serbia in 1842. “To enable the reader to understand the position of affairs at the commencement of [Serbia’s] struggle for independence” (Kerr), the first chapters review the history of the Serbs from the “first traces of the Servian race”, introduce the major historical figures, “condition, character, and poetry of the Servians”, and even their beliefs in vampires and witches and national collections of songs.

Provenance

Mrs. Jonides (inscribed by the translator on title, possibly a relation to Constantine Jonides, whom some sources describe as a Victorian art patron); Craig Burns, Halcyon, Lake Almanor (in Westwood, California; large booklabel to upper pastedown).

Bibliography

Morning Chronicle, quoted by The Quarterly Review (London), John Murray, 1847, Vol. 171, p. 10 (306).