| Summary: | Byronic adventurer, dandy, and prolific novelist, Benjamin Disraeli was a complex and controversial political figure who finally ascended the "Greasy Pole" to become Conservative Prime Minister in 1868 and again in 1874. Six essays examine central themes in Disraeli's personal and public life, as well as his diplomatic and writing careers--five by leading scholars and one by a former Chancellor of the Exchequer. It also includes the catalog from the 2003-2004 exhibition at the Bodleian Library, which focused on some of the key stepping stones in Disraeli's long and fascinating life, including his career as a novelist. Among the items illustrated and discussed are the "Mutilated Diary," personal and political letters, political cartoons from the John Johnson Collection of printed ephemera, images from Disraeli's "Gallery of Affection," and the fan signed by the delegates to the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
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