1959 My Russian Journey

Description

First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding, Signed, With Dustwrapper

A signed US first edition of Indian-born American writer Santha Rama Rau's account of her time spent in the Soviet Union with her husband and their small son, in the publisher's original price unclipped dust wrapper.

Explaining that 'curiosity' prompted their journey, they were 'permitted much more than the normal length of a tourist stay', and detail their experiences in the USSR and observations of the everyday life of Soviet Russians.

Signed to the front free endpaper, 'For my darling Audrey with love from Santha'.

The Audrey referred to is Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie, an extravagant socialite and renowned beauty of the Edwardian period. Impeccably connected, Pleydell-Bouverie was also the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII, and rumoured to be a lover of King Edward VIII. A sparkling figure of fashionable society, her friends included Nancy Mitford, Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, and Fred Astaire.

This work is from the sale of Pleydell-Bouverie’s library at Julians Park, Hertfordshire. She purchased the home in 1940, redesigning the interior and amassing an impressive library, featuring many examples of her own bookbinding.