Our Notes & References

An attractive commemorative work celebrating the life and work of Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich (1869-1918), a nephew of Nicholas I and Inspector-General of the Russian Artillery, who was later murdered by the Bolsheviks during the early part of the Civil War.

This work comprises a well-illustrated collection of personal memoirs and reminiscences recounting Sergei Mikhailovich’s career and activities. Described by Andrei Savine as a “definitive work, with a rich array of source material (including rare photographs of the time)”.

“Of the greatest rarity” (Savine): WorldCat locates copies only in three public institutions (NYPL, Uni. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Hoover Institution); we could not trace any example neither in the Russian State library nor in the Russian National library.

Sergei Mikhailovich was the fifth son of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, himself the son of Tsar Nicholas I. He was born and raised in the Caucasus, before moving to Saint Petersburg in 1881. In line with family expectations, Grand Duke Sergei pursued a career in the military, rising to the rank of major-general by 1904. The following year he took over from his father as Inspector General of Artillery. He worked hard to reform the sector, not always with complete success, but among other initiatives he helped to introduce quick-fire mobile artillery units into the Russian Army. On the outbreak of war in 1914, Grand Duke Sergei was promoted to the rank of general. However, due to a corruption scandal in 1915/16, he was forced to resign from his position and was instead made Field Inspector General of Artillery. After the overthrow of the Tsar, Sergei initially remained at Mogilev, before moving back to Petrograd. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power, he was sent into exile in Siberia, and was later shot alongside other family members in Alapaevsk in 1918.

Provenance

Boris Pavlovich Voinarskii (1895-1957, a military officer who took part in the Civil War and went to Gallipoli; he gathered a significant library, especially rich with military material; ink stamp in various places); Avenir Nizoff (émigré, pianist, who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20^th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature).