14.00 USD
Manon Loti, demimondaine, one of the most beautiful artistes of la Belle Epoque, by Leopold Reutlinger. A really fine, unposted card in a classic Reutlinger presentation style of the pre-divided back, leaving lots of room on the front of the card for a message, at the time when only the address was allowed on the back side.
Very little history for Mlle. Loti, and mostly by association. One in particular is interesting. She had a short but passionate affair with the dashing and fabulously wealthy Russian nobleman Nikolay Felixovich Yusupov. At the age of 25, he and his younger brother, who would become Prince Felix Yusupov II, were amusing themselves in Paris. According to Prince Felix's memoirs, the two lovers were inseparable. He described Manon Loti as beautiful, a famous courtesan who lived in great luxury in a fine house, with carriages, jewelry, etc., and according to Prince Felix, she even employed a "dwarf" as her mascot. The use of animals like cheetahs, defanged poisonous snakes, and yes, occasionally even human beings, as props to raise eyebrows, was not uncommon among our theatrical celebrities, many of whom came from very humble backgrounds, and imaginatively affected the lifestyle of debauched empresses. We have no remembrances of her affair with Yusupov passed down to us by Nikolay himself, who not long afterwards, back in Russia, was killed in a duel over a different woman. Again, this is interesting by association, rather than directly, Nothing to do with Mlle. Loti, really, but it is through our research on her that we meet her lover Nikolay, and his brother Prince Felix, frequenter of opium dens, and who would become one of the murderers of Rasputin! How often our belle artistes may be but a single thread in a great tapestry, but following that thread, we are inexorably drawn into the warp and weft of the entire piece.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully insured, first class, shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
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The older son of Zinaida and Felix Sumarokov-Elston, Nikolay Felixovich Yusupov (1883–1908) was killed in a duel at the age of 26 [1]. The last Yusupov Prince was Prince Felix Yusupov II, Count Sumarokov-Elston, the younger son of Zinaida and Felix Sumarokov-Elston, who is famous for his involvement in the murder of Gregory Rasputin. Felix Yusupov II