Laura-Thérèse (Thérèse), Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild (née von Rothschild) (1847-1931)
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Laura-Thérèse von Rothschild was the fourth daughter of Mayer Carl and Louise of Frankfurt, in which city she was born on 18 July 1847. She married her French cousin James Edouard (1844-1881) on 11 October 1871, becoming Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild. The couple were well-suited: there was nothing frivolous about him, and Thérèse was a pious, orthodox woman, who never became Parisian.
During the Franco-Prussian war she had cared for French wounded in the hospitals of Frankfurt. In the early years of their marriage, the couple became attracted to Berck-sur-Mer in the Pas-de Calais, a resort famed for its healing properties, and built the Chalet des Oyats near to the hospital they established. In 1881, Thérèse took over management of the hospital, although her son Henri, felt that his mother showed more love and warmth to the patients of the hospital than to him and his sister. Thérèse later published a memoir of her nursing experiences in the First World War, as Souvenirs de la Grande Guerre 1914-1918.
Thérèse inherited some of her father's magnificent collection of silver, which she housed in the Avenue Friedland, as well as her bibliophile husband's collection of rare books, bindings and manuscripts. Under the influence of the scholar Émile Picot, she added to the collection, and authorised the publication of a detailed catalogue, and facsimiles of certain works. Her son Henri later bequeathed this exceptional collection to the National Library of France.
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, photographs, 1902
000/1000, 2 items
Glass photographic plate of Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, taken in 1902 by M.Capron, at the Villa Madrid, Cannes, together with photocopy of the photographer's journal identifying the subject and the date of the sitting.
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, memoirs, 'Pages Détachées du cahier d’une Jeune Fille' (second ed.), 1907
000/2946/4, 1 volume
Pages Détachées du cahier d’une Jeune Fille, by Laura Thérèse, Baroness James de Rothschild, (Macon: Protat frères printers, 1907). The volume contains autobiographical memories of travel in Switzerland together with fables and discourses. Many take the form of fictitious letters and provide a focus for moralising reflections on human virtues. Written by Thérèse largely at the age of 18.
This work was first published in 1892 by Imprimerie Larousse, Paris. A separate edition was also published (Macon: Protat frères printers, 1896). with a second edition by the same printers in 1907, and expanded third and fourth editions in 1920 and 1925. A German edition was published under the title Jugend-Gedanken (Frankfurt am Main: Kaufmann in Komm [printers], 1893; with a second edtion in 1894); also a subsequent edition (Frankfurt am Main: Rumpf & Reis, 1906).
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, memoirs, 'Pages Détachées du cahier d’une Jeune Fille' (fourth ed.), 1925
000/2970, 1 volume
Pages Détachées du cahier d’une Jeune Fille, by Laura Thérèse, Baroness James de Rothschild, (Macon: Protat frères printers, 1925). The volume contains autobiographical memories of travel in Switzerland together with fables and discourses. Many take the form of fictitious letters and provide a focus for moralising reflections on human virtues. This later edition also includes memories of nursing in the Franco-Prussian war, and a foreword dedication to the Baroness's children, Henri and Jeanne, dated 1891.
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, memoirs, 'Souvenirs de la Grande Guerre 1914-1918', 1927
000/1323/16/4, 1 volume
Souvenirs de la Grande Guerre 1914-1918 by Thérèse von Rothschild (Protat Frères (printer) Macon, 1927). A volume of collected memoirs of Laura Thérèse (Thérèse), Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild (née von Rothschild) (1847-1931), recalling her nursing service in the military hospitals set up at Gouveaux and Berck-sur-Mer during the First World War. The book contains anecdotes of individual bravery and courage shown by the wounded and their nurses, and is written in tribute to them.
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, catalogue of collections, 'Catalogue of the Objects in Gold & Silver and the Limoges Enamels in the Collection of the Baroness James de Rothschild', 1912
000/2935, 1 volume
Laura-Thérèse (Thérèse), Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild (née von Rothschild) (1847-1931), catalogue of collections, Catalogue of the Objects in Gold & Silver and the Limoges Enamels in the Collection of the Baroness James de Rothschild', Edward Alfred Jones (Printed at the Arden Press, Letchworth and published by Constable & Co, London, 1912). Number 78 of 175 numbered copies.
Thérèse inherited some of the collections of magnificent silver assembled by her father Mayer Carl von Rotshchild (1820-1886). The introduction to this printed catalogue reads "This collection of goldsmiths' work has been, with one or exceptions, inherited by the Baroness James de Rothschild from her father, the late Baron Carl von Rothschild [Mayer Carl von Rothschild]. He had acquired during his long life as a discerning collector, a great collection of objects of artistic and historical interest - precious jewels, snuff boxes, enamels and goldsmiths' work, mainly of German origin. At his death in 1886 the late baron Carl von Rothschild's collection was divided into five portions and bequeathed to his five daughters: Adèle, who married Baron Salomon de Rothschild of Paris; Emma Luise, who married lord Rothschild; Thérèse, who married baron James de Rothschild; Marguerite who married Agenor, duc de Gramont; and Bertha Marie, who married Alexandre Berthier, duc de Wagram. Many of the objects then divided will be found illustrated in Luthmer's catalogue of the collections, printed in 1885."
Another identical (unnumbered copy) will be found in 000/1323/36. Copies of the 'Luthmer' catalogues will be found in 000/2266.
Thérèse, Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild, collections, secondary sources, 'The Rothschild Oliphant', 2023
000/2968, 1 volume
Der Rothschild Oliphant [The Rothschild Oliphant (Ivory)], Virginia Spenlé, Georg Laue (ed.) (Kunstkammer Georg Laue, Edition 10, Munich 2023). This volume, with text in both German and English celebrates this piece of carved elephant ivory, formerly in the collection of Laura-Thérèse (Thérèse), Baroness James Edouard de Rothschild. The Rothschild Oliphant is a masterpiece of ivory sculpture fitted with a high-quality mount of fire-gilt silver produced by the Strasbourg master goldsmith Hans Jacob Erhart around 1645. Removable from its stand, the oliphant can be used as a hunting horn. The piece is covered in elaborately carved reliefs and fully sculpted depictions of intertwined animals and mystical creatures, by Johann Michael Egner, one of the most important Strasbourg sculptors of the 17th century.