Buy this book on-line

SMITH, GENE: : MAXIMILIAN AND CARLOTA - The Habsburg Tragedy in Mexico

LONDON.PBS,1974.

ISBN No ISBN.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.NFINE/NFINE. No owner inscrptn,no clip to dw/dj.Colour pictorial dw/dj; with minimal shelf-wear and creasing to edges with a tiny closed tear to foot of spine/ backstrip.Lightly bumped corners and fore-edges slightly aged.Contents bright,tight and clean.Red paper-covered boards with gilt letters to spine/back - head+foot which are lightly bumped and plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,318pp includes 20pp b/w contemporary illustrations and photographs,a bibliography and an index. 'Mexicans! You have desired me! Your noble country, by the spontaneous expressions of the wishes of the majority, elected me to watch over the future of its destiny! I respond with happiness to this call.I shall hold the sceptre with confidence and the sword of honour with firmness.' So ran the official proclomation with which the thirty-one- year old Emperor Maximilian greeted his new subjects on his arrival in Mexico in 1864.At his side was his wife,the beautiful Belgian Princess Charlotte whom he took with him as the Empress Carlota: she was then not quite twenty-four.Three years later a deposed and wretched Maximilian was to ask a Mexican firing squad to 'aim well - aim right here' as he indicated his heart.This time Carlota was not at his side.She was in Europe, driven to insanity by those three tragic years wished upon them by European royalty - years not of peace which Maximilian desired so ardently to give Mexico,but of treachery, internecine war and butchery.In telling this story of one of history's most tragic couples Smith shows Maximilian as the last of the princely knights-errant.He colourfully and clearly draws the historical background to the Habsburgs' most exotic foray.Paris at its most brilliant,Vienna at its most extravagant and scenes set in the Vatican and the English and Belgian courts (involving nearly all the Royal families of the time) are contrasted with the ravaged wilderness of Mexico and the political imbroglio of that part of the New World over which Maximilian was meant to have reigned.Perhaps the most impressive attributes of Smith's book,however, are the splendid human portraits he draws of the three major figures in the drama - presented with sympathy and compelling psychological insight. Maximilian's romantic and idealistic qualities which made him so well loved, and Carlota's passionately ambitious involvement on his behalf,are seen as keys to their personalities - and contributors to their fate.The strength of their relationship survived their separation and even the death of Maximilian.Carlota lived on until 1927 and died a crazy eighty-seven-year-old inmate of a castle outside Brussels.From her mindless wilderness she wrote to her dead husband: 'Your eyes look down from every place and I hear your voice everywhere.' The third major figure is the deposed President of Mexico, the full-blooded Mexican Indian,Juarez. Also a man of great principle and honour,and determined to drive the foreign invaders from his land,he was eventually compelled to sign the death warrant of Maximilian - the man whom even he had to respect and admire. Please contact seller,because of the weight/ value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.