Customer Reviews

Royal Russia: The Private Albums of the Russian Imperial Family

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though a few caption dates are off, this book is worth having for the photographs alone! The pictures aren't readily found in most other available sources, and are very nicely-presented in their entirety (no artful layering and cropping to obscure the subject matter!). I'm especially stoked that the collection draws largely from one of HIH Maria Nicolaievna's albums...poor Mashka often gets short-shrifted in the mix, and so it's nice to find a cache of photos that represent her point-of-view/feature her.

The photographs are beautiful. There are fewer of them than in most other Romanov photo collections, but then, I haven't seen most of them elsewhere, either. One quibble is that several of the photographs seem to be mistakenly identified-- which daughter is which, and so forth. Slightly annoying. The book could also have done with more accompanying text and descriptions. Most pages contain just one or two photographs with brief captions.

In "Royal Russia", Lovell draws the reader into the amazing world of the last Imperial Family with their wonderful photographs. The photographs are excellent, however there are some misidentifictations of the Grand Duchesses. Nonetheless, the book is great.

Hmmmm, I was decidedly disappointed in this book. Many of the pictures contained within were very poor quality and there were some blatant mistakes in identification of the family members. A good many of the photographs are not new to the collector of Romanov books. I would not recommend this book if one is expecting to see anything new. I dont think Mr. Blair Lovell would have been pleased!

It was a good book, but I hate it how they kept getting the Grand Duchesses mixed up, and they called Marie Olga and Olga Marie, it was very annoying.

I enjoy reading about Imperial Russia very much, and this is one of the books I have enjoyed the most! It gives you a very good look into these people's lives, which makes this an excellent book for studying!! Five stars for this book!

I thought it was a very good book with lots of nice photographs, but as said before, the names of the Grand Duchesses was changed and mixed a little and the author continually repeated himself. The years of the photographs and the ages of the Grand Duchesses in conjunction with this was also a little mixed at places. Other than that, it is a wonderful book and I love it!

The pictures in this book are mostly LARGE! They have informative
and sometimes poignant captions. Many of them have previously been
unseen, as they are from the private albums of the Czarina, Alexandra, and her daughter, the Grand Duchess Marie. Pictures of private moments, imperial splendour, and, sadly, of life whilst imprisoned and confined, are also shown. What impressed me most about these pictures are 1) the majority OF them are, as mentioned, nicely L A R G E. LARGE enough to really see the details of royal expressions, clothing, and background. The pictues are also remarkably c l e a r -- due, no doubt to the large-format cameras usually used on all occasions at that time. This book might not have as many pictures as some books on the Imperial Family -- but those that are here are enough to keep anyone interested in this close-knit, royal, loving, and tragic family enthralled. These pictures -- and their capitons -- give a wonderful "insiders" view of what life was like for them. It's the next best thing to having a time-machine, I think, and is a treasure for all people interested in this intriguing, sadly lost Royal Family.

This book is beautiful. I have the one with the purple cover. This is from Alexandra and Maria's album. There are beautiful official portraits of the Big Pair and Little Par in white dresses that are breathtaking. There are also pics I have never seen so if you're a Romanov buff get it. Cute pics from Finland of the girls. However, the author repeatedly mixes up Maria with Olga. It really irritates me because I love Maria. She's my favorite. The picture is blatantly Maria but it says its Olga. To me if you're a historian you should know by looking at the the girls who is who. We need to keep their memory alive.

I'm afraid the endorsement by HRH Prince Michael of Kent creates a false expectation. The photo identifications in this book are far from accurate. The author has made several false identifications; she can't tell Olga or Anastasia from Maria, and has made one or two very careless mistakes, such as suggesting that a particular photo was taken by a particular grand duchess (who just happens to be in the middle of the picture). There are some photographs that I have not seen in other Romanov photocollections, and the information contained in the text SEEMS spot on. However, I would not recommend this for anyone who does not have extensive familiarity with the Romanov family already.