Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870)
'Princess Obolensky and the abduction of her children'. 1869
Autograph letter signed ('Alex. Herzen') to an unidentified correspondent ('Monsieur'), n.p., 29 August 1869.

In French. One page, 199 x 156mm.

'The dreadful affair of Princess Obolensky and the abduction of her children'. Herzen had expected to see an article on 'the dreadful affair of Princess Obolensky and the abduction of her children' appear in La Liberté, but he has been disappointed: he reiterates that 'I was very much counting on it – according to what you had said that some note would appear'. He was so sure of this that he had not made any other requests.

The reference is to Princess Zoia Sergeevna Obolensky (1828-1897), a close associate of Mikhail Bakunin and other exiled revolutionaries: in 1869, her husband, Aleksei Vasil’evich Obolensky, organised the kidnapping and return to Russia of their children, who had been living with her in Naples and then Switzerland since 1863.

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