BEVERIDGE, Albert.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Russian Advance. First edition, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Mary Phelps Montgomery - Sincerely, Alfred J. Beveridge, Washington DC, February 15th 1904". The US senator wrote this work following his trip to Russia and the wider Asian continent in 1901. It was published in the same year as the breakout of the Russo-Japanese War.The work is largely based on articles Beveridge wrote for the Saturday Evening Post after returning home, discussing Russian economic, military, and imperial ambitions, and is supported by additional, broader descriptions of the area. Beveridge met with Leo Tolstoy whilst in Russia, an encounter captured on film that was later destroyed when he considered running for president. He would go on to write well known biographies of Supreme Court Justice Marshall and President Abraham Lincoln.Mary Phelps Montgomery (1846-1943) was a key figure in the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, engaging in fundraising missions across America which fuelled the project in its approach to a federally imposed deadline. Her bookplate is on the front pastedown and her ownership inscription appears on p. 20.

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