Tomsk circle

The Mysterious Starets Feodor Kozmich in Siberia and Emperor Alexander I. Compiled by the Tomsk Circle of Devotees of Starets Feodor Kozmich; edition of D.G. Romanov. [Kharkov], Mirnyj Trud Printing House, [1912]. [8], 184, [2] pp.: ill.

An important pre-revolutionary edition devoted to one of the most enigmatic legends in Russian history: the alleged identity of the Siberian starets Feodor Kozmich and Emperor Alexander I, who, according to tradition, staged his own death in 1825 in order to withdraw and live as a wanderer.

Compiled by the Tomsk Circle of his devotees, the volume brings together a detailed biography, testimony from contemporaries, legends of his meetings with members of the imperial family, and a rich illustrative apparatus: portraits, views of the cells, and facsimiles of notes and drawings.

Of particular interest are the appendices devoted to attempts to decipher Feodor Kozmich's mysterious notes and to a comparison of his handwriting with that of Alexander I.

A bibliographic rarity of great fascination, valuable to collectors of Russian history, memoirs, and literature on imperial legends.