The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Fredorovna, Empress of Russia: A Biography

First edition, first impression.  xxii, 360pp, tissue-guarded portrait plate frontispiece and 24 further plates (later editions had fewer illustrations).  Black cloth boards with gilt motif on upper panel, gilt lettering on spine.  Large 8vo.  Cloth is worn and marked, rubbed on corners and lightly so around spine, mottled, marked and a few light scratches in cloth on verso.  Text block edges a little darkened.  The first few leaves, including the title page are bumped and chapped along the leading edge - not affecting text or images - otherwise internally neat, clean, bright and tight, barring some faint and occasional spotting.

Born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Alexandra Feodorovana became the wife of Tsar Nicholas II and was Empress of Russia from her marriage in 1894 until Nicholas's forced abdication at the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917.  A granddaughte of Queen Victoria, she was a carrier of hemophilia, a condition which she passed to her son, Alexei Nikolavich.  Her relationship with Grigori Rasputin drew much criticism which, coupled with her insistence of the maintenance of autocratic rule in Russia, contributed to the decline of the Romanov dynasty.  She was executed by the Bolsheviks alongside her husband and children in July 1918.