Move Over, Anastasia: Abrams Has a New Romanov 'Survivor'
Judy Quinn -- 7/20/98
"Fairly dull and absolutely unconvincing," said David Remnick, newly appointed editor, in the July 6 New Yorker, dismissing The Escape of Alexei: Son of Tsar Nicholas II, a book that details St. Petersburg customs officer Oleg Filatov's claim that his recently deceased father, Vasily, was the tsarevich (or crowned prince) Alexei, who miraculously survived the imperial family's assassination by the Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918.
"I came away convinced he was a rational being," said Harry N. Abrams president and publisher Paul Gottlieb. After meeting Filatov in the offices of the book's Russian publisher, Blitz, in St. Petersburg in March, Gottlieb, for what he calls a "modest six-figure advance," snapped up all world publishing rights except Russian for the book, and will rush a translation so it hits stores on November 7, the anniversary of the Russian revolution. (Blitz put out its edition July 7, just before the reinterment of the remains of the tsar and his family in St. Petersburg, which took place on the 80th anniversary of their execution, this past Friday.)
What's wrong with the picture Remnick presented, said the admittedly not disinterested Gottlieb, is that, he believes, the writer didn't see the pictures that will accompany the book, some 100 black-and-white photographs of both Filatovs and Romanovs that show a "remarkable resemblance." Gottlieb hopes to bring Filatov over for a tour and also expects to include in his edition even more research materials to update the current Russian edition, which is written not by Filatov but by a trio of scientists who were recruited by Blitz, an archival and genealogical-oriented publisher, after Filatov had originally approached that house to do research.
The key piece of new data that Gottlieb would love to see in his edition, and one that could prove Filatov's claim would, of course, be a DNA test. That Filatov hasn't taken one yet makes skeptics believe his claim is false -- a DNA test, after all, finally debunked popular longtime Anastasia claimant, Anna Andersen. But Gottlieb, who started exploring the idea of getting a DNA test of Filatov before throwing up his hands at the complexity of it, said there is governmental bureaucracy blocking that process.
Despite his enthusiasm, Gottlieb is, of course, taking Filatov's claim with a Siberian slab of salt. It's the reason he's kept his acquisition under wraps until now, since he was awaiting the translated manuscript before officially proceeding. He's particularly thankful to now have an in-house sales staff to handle the quick push of a late sell-in, with what Gottlieb expects to be a conservative first printing.
For Gottlieb, Filatov's claim, true or not, fits into what is an ever-building drama and resurgence of interest in Russia and the Romanovs that has resulted in such Abrams projects as the bestselling Hidden Treasures Revealed, a look at art collections of the famous Heritage museum made possible with the decline of communism, and the upcoming Nicholas and Alexandra, a book that accompanies a traveling exhibition opening in First USA Riverfront Arts Center in Wilmington, Del., in August, with two additional locales to come next year.
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