



Produced by Al Haines









[Frontispiece: The Empress of Russia and Queen Alexandra]




RUSSIAN MEMORIES

BY

MADAME OLGA NOVIKOFF "O.K."


WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STEPHEN GRAHAM


AND FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS


HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED 12 ARUNDEL PLACE HAYMARKET LONDON S.W. MCMXVII




WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD., PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND




{1}

INTRODUCTION

BY STEPHEN GRAHAM

It is perhaps a little superfluous for one of my years to write an
introduction for one so well known and so much esteemed and admired as
Madame Novikoff.  And yet it may seem just, if it does not seem vain,
that a full-hearted tribute should come to her from this generation
which profits by the result of her life and her work--the great new
friendship between England and Russia.

She is one of the most interesting women in European diplomatic
circles.  She is a picturesque personality, but more than that she is
one who has really done a great deal in her life.  You cannot say of
her, as of so many brilliant women, "She was born, she was admired, she
passed!"  Destiny used her to accomplish great ends.

For many in our society life, she stood for Russia, was Russia.  For
the poor people of England Russia was represented by the filth of the
Ghetto and the crimes of the so-called "political" refugees; for the
middle classes who read Seton Merriman, Russia was a fantastic country
of revolutionaries and bloodthirsty police; but fortunately the ruling
and upper classes always have had some better vision, they have had the
means of travel, they