DOLGOROUKAÏA (Ekaterina Mikhaïlovna). Set of 9 autograph letters [TO TSAR ALEXANDER II], each with an autograph apostille from him indicating the dates of receipt. May-June 1869. In all, 78 pp. in-8. A BURNING PASSION AT THE HEART OF RUSSIAN POWER. A TESTIMONY OF RARE SINCERITY ON THE SENTIMENTAL AND SENSUAL LIFE OF A SOVEREIGN, WHOM CZAR ALEXANDER III SOUGHT IN VAIN TO MAKE DISAPPEAR. Berlin, May 17/29, 1869. "Oh, my angel, you who are but the reflection of myself, you understand the despondency in which I find myself... I love you, dear бобинька [bobinka, one of the affectionate terms by which she addressed the tsar], and am happy to love you and to have recreated you so completely through the worship that God has inspired in us and which forms our pride.... I have such blind trust in you that it has no name, and you can judge by the trust you feel for your little wife, so you must admit that it's a consolation like no other, and it's something to be proud of and thank God for... We've only been apart for two days, and it already seems like a century. Oh, my angel, no matter how hard I try, tears choke me and I die of sadness... OH! MY ANGEL, WHAT I WOULD HAVE GIVEN TO SEE YOU AGAIN, TO HOLD YOU CLOSE TO THIS HEART FULL OF RAGE AND ADORATION, AND TO WARM YOU, BECAUSE WE MISS THAT TOO... I went to bed at 8:1/2 a.m. thinking I could sleep, feeling so weak and broken, but I couldn't... Oh! if we could... rest in the same bed, everything would have taken on a delirious aspect. But alas! Now it's just the opposite, and it's only the persuasion that we're jealous of each other for all we do that relieves us, and sustains us... My outflows stand out again... Oh! My dear ideal, my everything, I miss you not knowing what to become, I suffer and tears will bring me down to the grave because I don't know what to do... твой навсегда [tvoï navsegda, i.e. "yours forever"]." - Etc. A GREAT REFORMER EMPEROR, ALEXANDER II (1818-1881) was associated with the exercise of power at an early age. He came to the throne in 1855, faced with defeat in the Crimea, and decided to modernize his country: he embarked on a series of major liberal reforms to improve the judicial system, education and the status of women, and abolished serfdom (1861). However, a serious agrarian crisis, the Polish uprising (1863) and an assassination attempt on his life (1866) led him to tighten state control over society. Revolutionary unrest gathered momentum in the 1870s, and there was a succession of attempts on his life. PRINCESS OF SINGULAR DESTINY, EKATERINA MIKHAÏLOVNA DOLGOROUKAÏA, KNOWN AS KATIA (1848-1922), was the daughter of Prince Dolgorouki, from one of Russia's oldest noble families. She entered the court as maid of honor to Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and soon became Alexander II's mistress. This relationship gave rise to many scandals, first when Katia was installed in the Winter Palace above the Imperial Apartments, then when she gave birth to three illegitimate children (the first, George, was born on April 30, 1872), and finally when, immediately after Maria Alexandrovna's death (1880), Alexander II married her morganatically, making her Princess Yuryevskaya. Driven out of the Court after the assassination attempt on Alexander II's life, she went into exile on the Côte d'Azur, where she escaped the Revolution and died in 1922.