Kieran McCarthy
Fabergé in London: The British Branch of the Imperial Russian Goldsmith.
Woodbridge, England: ACC Art Books, 2021. Revised edition. 9781851498284 239 pages.
Large-format volume, measuring approximately 10" x 12.25", is bound in dark green cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine and front cover. Book is new. Dust jacket, with tiny tear at bottom edge of rear cover, is like new, and preserved in mylar cover.
"The first book to be dedicated to the British branch of Fabergé, covering its fascinating history from its opening in 1903, to its closure in 1917
Royalty, Aristocrats, American heiresses, exiled Russian Grand Dukes, Randlords, Maharajas, Socialites and Financiers with newly made fortunes flocked to Fabergé in London to buy gifts for each other. The Imperial Russian Goldsmith's London branch was the only one outside of Russia and its jeweled and enameled contents were as popular there as they were in St. Petersburg or Moscow.
Using previously unreferenced sources and a newly discovered archive of papers relating to Fabergé in London, Kieran McCarthy studies the branch's structure, customers and exclusive stock. The book will be of interest to enthusiasts of the decorative arts, the social history of the Edwardian Golden Age and especially of European Royalty. Fabergé's works were and continue to be intimately associated with the British Royal Family. For Violet Trefusis, daughter of King Edward VII's mistress Mrs. Keppel and lover of Vita Sackville-West, a Fabergé cigarette case was the emblem of Royalty, as symbolical as the 'bookies' cigar', or the 'ostler's straw'."