Lost Splendour

First published in the early 1950s, this memoir recounts the life of Felix Yusupov, heir to one of imperial Russia's richest families. He describes palaces in St Petersburg and the Crimea, a privileged youth, marriage to Princess Irina, and the atmosphere of the court in the last years of Nicholas II. The central episode is the December 1916 conspiracy in which Yusupov and others lured Grigori Rasputin to the Moika palace and killed him, believing they were freeing the monarchy from the starets's influence. Later chapters cover revolution, exile, and disputes over the story. The book is a first-person aristocratic memoir, not a general history of 1917.

Quarter bound in dark purple artificial moiré silk, purple paper boards decorated in black. Pale grey endleaves. Grey slipcase.