From the Introduction by Rose Baring
 
This beautiful album of watercolours, created during a five-month cruise to the Far East in the winter of 1896–7 on her husband’s steam yacht, is the fullest expression of the talents of my great grandmother, Mabel Ashburton.
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So these pages and the magical glimpse they give us of the era of the steam yacht are all that remain of the Venetia. Mabel’s grandson, my father, made a private press edition of 200 copies of the album to celebrate his 90^th birthday in 2018, giving them away to family and friends as a reverse birthday present. The remaining copies are now for sale to anyone who wishes to experience late Victorian travel and the world at that time from the comfort of their armchair.