My Empress by Marfa Mouchanow - who actually wrote it and why?

I didn't mean that the author said it was the by nanny.

I know, I just included the words from the title page to make clear it was the eBay seller who was creating confusion and that there's no need to look for a nanny who might have used 'Mouchanow' as an alias .

I wonder why Paul chose to move the photos into one section?  In the original book the photos are scattered throughout the volume as we can see by the scan that griffh has posted.

The photo section in Paul Gilbert's edition is printed on glossy paper. Perhaps it was more convenient from a print-technical point of view to put the photos together.

Helen - Thanks.

I misunderstood your post. 

I can see that in most cases, people who are trying to sell Romanov items on eBay always mention Anastasia or something to do with the children as the sellers know that the popularity of OTMA is greater than that of their parents to many people.  So the sellers use it for a "hook" to draw people in.

When a seller mentions OTMA, I know that they have done enough research on the family to have come up with the combined letters for the names, but that doesn't mean that the seller knows anything else.

I checked this particular seller's other items for sale and found nothing else that has to do with the Romanovs.  Obviously not a seller of great quantities of Romanov memorabilia.  It made me wonder how she came by the book.

But now that I know about the Paul Gilbert reprints, it gives me more information when I need to ask questions of others who might be able to help us in our quest for the true name of Marfa Mouchanow or for the 1940s edition.

I have not yet heard from the Museum of Modern Art in answer to my question about Paul Thompson and his photographs.

Very interesting! I had not realized Paul Gilbert printed the book. ...so there are at least 3 hardback edtions : the 1918 , the one in the 1940's and Paul's

Gosh I missed all the action.

Part of my current question to Stephen, the reference librarian at the NYC Public Library, is if he could help establish if there was actually a 1940's edition of My Empress so that we know the truth once and for all.  There are several current 2008-2010 paperback editions of My Empress as well:

Kessinger Pub. 2008

General Book LLC 2010

Nabu Press 2010

Nabu Press prints the paperbook on demand.  I think these are all just photographic repros of the 1918 edition, though the General Book paperback does not include any illustrations. 

Alizx that is interesting that Massie used My Empress as a source for his book.  I noticed that Carolly Erickson also used My Empress in her book, Alexandra: The Last Tsarina.  Just as a quick update, I am still working with a reference libarian at NYC Public Library on the question of the authorship issue.  So we shall see where this goes.  Onward and upward....

So did Joseph Fuhrmann for his "Rasputin:  A Life".

I wonder when this book came to be known as a fraud.  It would seem that many of the books written by knowledgeable authors used My Empress as a source.

I would have thought that any author writing his/her own book about the Romanovs would have vetted the source books that they used more carefully.  That is if the book truly is a fraud.

Of course, in our recent research, we have not yet gotten all of the answers to the questions we have asked and may not for a while.  As you can see from this course of this thread, information can come from a lot of different sources.  That is why I threw this question out to all of you knowing that, with your help, we would get a lot of bits of information and we might not get by other means.

This discussion is fascinating.  I can't imagine being someone who relied heavily on a particular source to create a highly respected (and respectable) work, only to find out that source is a fake.

This discussion is fascinating.  I can't imagine being someone who relied heavily on a particular source to create a highly respected (and respectable) work, only to find out that source is a fake.

I agree and had also forgotten that Greg King used My Empress in his book on Alexandra, The Last Empress too.  Just as a quick update, I have not heard anything from the NYC Public Library but have to go there in a week or so and I will enquire as to the current status of my questions or possibly I will be directed to sources that I can use in the Library to further our research.  I have been slowly doing a comparitive study of the books written on the Empress just prior to the Great War and up to 1918 to compare descriptions of events, etc.  Of course it is hardly a definitive study as I do not have access to magazine or news paper articles which are often filled with detials that don't appear in books.  I don't know if such a study will be rewarding in determining the why the book was written or not but I suppose it is worth while in one way or another.  It also occurs to me that we may have exhausted most of our avenues except for the correspondence files in the John Lane Archives.  After Christmas, or possibly sooner, I shall contact Bill again and see what we can learn about the authorship of My Empress.  An well known historian shared some really interesting items about Mme. Gueringer that she came across during other research in GARF.  I am going to ask her if I have permission to share the information on our thread.  Well onward and upward....   

I never heard from the Museum of Modern Art about the photographs by Paul Thompson that are included in the book.

I have emailed griffh and asked him about his trip to the NYC Public Library in October of 2010.

We seem to have hit a slow patch in our research.

I was asked (a long time ago) to look into the Jacques Ferrand books that I have for mention of Madame Geurringer nee Adalung.

So far I have had no luck, but I have found two mentions of Mouchanow - but spelled Moukhanoff.

Book #2 Noblesse Russe - Portraits

Page 8 -  there is a picture of Nadejda Nicolaievna Moukhanoff (* 1904) and her brother Nicolas Nicolaievich (1906-1966) with their unnamed nurse.  This picture was provided by Monsieur Nicolas N Komstadius.

On Page 11 - there is a picture of a lot of young children who are the children of Cavalry General and Aide de Camp General of His Majesty Baron Theophile Bogdanovitch Meyendorff (1838-1919) and his wife Comtesse Helene Pavlovna Schouvaloff (1857-1943).
One child is named Anastasia (1885-1976), future Madame Ilya Moukhanoff.  This picture was provided by Monsieur Pierre I Danzas

I know that both of these children are too young to be the Moukhanoff that we are looking for, but it gives us an indication that the family was high enough in status to have had their pictures taken and included in M. Ferrand's books on Russian Nobility.

I might try to scan these pictures in just for fun, (since we know they are not the woman we are looking for - but could be related) but I don't want to put my books in danger.

Dear member,

I was surfing a month ago thru internet and found this topic about Marfa Mouchanow.

My grandfather name is Sergio Muchanow (Sergei Muxanov-Сергей Ильич Муханов) he was born in Tsarskoe Stelo in 1915. I saw that some members have photos & books where my relatives are mentioned (Muxanov & Meyendorff).

How can I obtain pictures that you have mentioned on this post? There are very important for me. If you can give me help on this I will be eternally grateful.

I have asked some things to my grandfather and told me that Marfa Mouchanow didn´t exist.

How interesting - I'm sorry, I'm no help with the photos. Can you tell us more about your grandfather? Can he remember Tsarskoe Selo? Indulge us, please! 

I have asked some things to my grandfather and told me that Marfa Mouchanow didn´t exist.

Not surprizing at all. Thank you for that infomation....I hope you find the pictures!

petzia - I am sorry but I have no pictures of Marfa or her family.  The pictures we have are used in the book by "marfa"mouchanow" and are attributed to Paul Thompson and also to the William Randolph Hearst news agency.  They are not pictures of Marfa, but pictures of palaces and other sites around Russia.

The book itself is in question because we can not find out just who Marfa Mouchinow is or find any link to a family who might be hers.

petzia - I am sorry but I have no pictures of Marfa or her family.  The pictures we have are used in the book by "marfa"mouchanow" and are attributed to Paul Thompson and also to the William Randolph Hearst news agency.  They are not pictures of Marfa, but pictures of palaces and other sites around Russia.

The book itself is in question because we can not find out just who Marfa Mouchinow is or find any link to a family who might be hers.

Dear Alixz,

Maybe my english is bad. You mentioned that you have this material: "- there is a picture of a lot of young children who are the children of Cavalry General and Aide de Camp General of His Majesty Baron Theophile Bogdanovitch Meyendorff (1838-1919) and his wife Comtesse Helene Pavlovna Schouvaloff (1857-1943).
One child is named Anastasia (1885-1976), future Madame Ilya Moukhanoff.  This picture was provided by Monsieur Pierre I Danzas"

This child named Anastasia is my grandfather´s mother and Ilya Moukhanoff is his father.
If you can scan this and post it...

Thank you!

I have asked some things to my grandfather and told me that Marfa Mouchanow didn´t exist.

Not surprizing at all. Thank you for that infomation....I hope you find the pictures!

Yes, maybe it can help: Mouchanow is a french translation of this surname. Thank you!