Counting My Chickens, Signed by Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire
[Signed by the Duchess of Devonshire] Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire. Counting My Chickens. First Edition. 2001. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. It is signed “Deborah Devonshire” on the title page. Introduction by Tom Stoppard.
This book is an enchanting collection of musings, opinions, fulminations, explanations, and Mitford family lore from the Dowager Duchess, who, prior to her death in 2014, had long been the last surviving Mitford sister. Ruled by common sense and tradition, not grand passion, she wisely steered clear of the sweeping political movements that engulfed three of her siblings. A great poultry enthusiast (hence the title), she turned the cash-starved Devonshire estates into a thriving business, farm-to-table a generation before its time.
“The behaviour of poultry is like human behaviour and it is just as predictable. They fight, they resent newcomers, they hate wind and rain. Some are bold and forage far from home and some hardly bother to go out of doors.”
--Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire