New Book: Alexandra + Toni Becker-Bracht

[Sarai_Porretta]

Thank you Guinevere for your most enthusiastic review! It has encouraged me to just order a copy of the book for myself. I don't read German at all, but hopefully the rare pictures alone will be worth it.

[Teddy]

I find it a wonderfull book. A lovely read.

[Sarai_Porretta]

I also received my copy and although I cannot read German, I still find it a lovely and worthwhile book that is richly illustrated. There are some rare photos I had never seen before, in particular the one of Alix dressed up in costume in 1887 on page 30 and the one of the 3 month old Grand Duchess Olga on page 105 come to mind, though there are others as well.

[Teddy]

Dear Sarai,

If you use: www.freetranslations.com you can translate the letters if you want.

Teddy

[Olga Maria]

If you can, Sarai, would you mind scanning the photos and post them here or in their respective threads?

[Teddy]

Sarai, I think you better can't do this scanning. Its a new published book, so if Grand Princess Shandroise  is interested in the pictures, GPS can buy the book. Give the people a change to sell their book. I find it most idiot if someone who scans photo's of complete books, if the book is just a couple of weeks old. People sometimes work years for writing a book and now you ask Sarai to scan the pictures? I can understand why writers would never write a book again. So Sarai, please don't do it.

[Helen]

I don't want to spoil the fun, but I fully agree with Teddy. One is not free to post these pictures here without permission of the author.

But on a more positive note: I love this book and think it's a treasure! It includes not only some interesting new photos of Alix as well as of Toni and her family, but also quite interesting letters and background information. Letters that come to mind are the ones in which Alix writes about her grandmother's and aunt's attempt to pair her and Prince Eddy off [pp. 37-8] and where she refers to the attack on Nicholas in 1891 [p. 44]. Plus the quote from Toni's memoirs about Alix's resolve not to marry Nicholas when she left for Coburg in April 1894 [p. 80]. The book also tells us about Toni Becker's background - a family that included painters, musicians, scientists, and an explorer, and her father a tutor to Queen Victoria's eldest sons, librarian to Princes Albert and keen photographer. Alix's letters and Toni's own life story truely bring Toni's and Alix's friendship to life.

[Sarai_Porretta]

Don't worry my dear Teddy, I had no intentions of scanning anything.

GPS if you'd like a copy of the book I got mine through Amazon Germany, if you'd like I can help guide you to order one. I don't know German but being already familiar with Amazon.com I was able to figure it out easily enough.

[Janet Ashton]

Letters that come to mind are the ones in which Alix writes about her grandmother's and aunt's attempt to pair her and Prince Eddy off [pp. 37-8] and where she refers to the attack on Nicholas in 1891 [p. 44].

Otsu? Ah - you just sold it to me!

[Helen]

Otsu? Ah - you just sold it to me!

Yes, Otsu. It's just a short reference of a few lines about Ella having notified her and that she, Alix, was not at all in the mood for a trip to England one or two days later - no details about the actual incident itself.  

[Olga Maria]

Oh I see.  I understand all your reasons completely well: no hard feelings. Thanks for the info, Sarai. Unfortunately, I am still a student and thus, have no money to buy a precious book like this. :-) I also don't know German, gosh! I thank you all who give tidbits of information on the last posts here...

[aleksandr pavlovich]

 Attention "GP Shandrosie" and your Reply # 40:    As I advised you sometime earlier, I believe under one of your other names ( "Ingrid Alexie" (?) or some-such concoction), not having the purchase price of a desired book is not necessairily a "full-stop."  Remember the saying, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention." I'm certain that your city there in the Philippines has a library and hopefully the equivalent of "Interlibrary Loan," thus though you might have to wait awhile since this is a new volume, this could be an alternative.  Also perhaps you have access to a nearby university's library?  I believe at that time that you replied that you would check on these resourses.   As to the German language, I would think that you are more interested in the pictures, thus the captions should be workable with a German/Spanish dictionary, German/English dictionary, or perhaps a parallel German/your native dialect dictionary (also available at your library or university library?).   AP.

[Janet Ashton]

Otsu? Ah - you just sold it to me!

Yes, Otsu. It's just a short reference of a few lines about Ella having notified her and that she, Alix, was not at all in the mood for a trip to England one or two days later - no details about the actual incident itself.  

That's fine; I'm interested in her reaction, but I wouldn't expect her to have any insight into exactly what happened. My copy should be on its way now!
But I do also need to check to see if there's anything in the Staatsarchiv that Nicholas himself wrote to Alix during this period - and not just about Otsu.

[Helen]

They do have letters that Nicholas wrote to Alix in the years 1889-94, although only copies of letters held at GARF, Moscow.

[Marlene]

One does not need permission of an author to use photos - one needs the permission of the copyright holder (which usually is not the author) or in the case of the photos used in this book - all the photos are out of copyright -- it would be polite to ask ... but not necessarily required because the photos are out of copyright ... any photo before 1923 is out of copyright  - however. if the photos come from a particular archives or someone's collection, it is good form to ask for permission.

I don't want to spoil the fun, but I fully agree with Teddy. One is not free to post these pictures here without permission of the author.

But on a more positive note: I love this book and think it's a treasure! It includes not only some interesting new photos of Alix as well as of Toni and her family, but also quite interesting letters and background information. Letters that come to mind are the ones in which Alix writes about her grandmother's and aunt's attempt to pair her and Prince Eddy off [pp. 37-8] and where she refers to the attack on Nicholas in 1891 [p. 44]. Plus the quote from Toni's memoirs about Alix's resolve not to marry Nicholas when she left for Coburg in April 1894 [p. 80]. The book also tells us about Toni Becker's background - a family that included painters, musicians, scientists, and an explorer, and her father a tutor to Queen Victoria's eldest sons, librarian to Princes Albert and keen photographer. Alix's letters and Toni's own life story truely bring Toni's and Alix's friendship to life.