HER WANTON MAJESTY

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good.: Fair FIRST ED . "A narrative that moves with palpitating intensity through the lives of some of the most entrancing presonalities the world has ever seen," this is a somewhat trashy novelization of the life of Catherine the Great, "this low-born woman who stepped from bed to bed to reach the glory of the Imperial throne of Russia." (As one contemporary critic observed, "we expected, every time we turned a page, to hear [her] moan, soulfully, 'Why dontcha c'mup 'n see me some time?'.") The author, the son of Czar Nicholas II's personal physician (who was executed along with the royal family), eventually made his way to America, where had a pretty robust career turning out popular novels with Russian characters, set in both the Old Country and in his new homeland. He also founded a nature-based religion called the Church of Aphrodite, and gained notoriety for his vociferous support of Anna Anderson's claim that she was the (supposedly murdered) Grand Duchess Anastasia. (His book about her, published a few years after this one, was called "The Woman Who Rose Again.") Meanwhile, almost simultaneously with the appearance of this book, Catherine was having her moment on the silver screen, on both sides of the Atlantic: in England, production was underway on CATHERINE THE GREAT, with Elisabeth Bergner in the title role, while in far-off Hollywood, Josef von Sternberg was directing his fever-dream of a movie, THE SCARLET EMPRESS, starring Marlene Dietrich. (I suspect that the jacket illustration -- with Catherine garbed in a form-fitting red dress -- was a nod to the latter film.