[Romanov, N. K.] Amu and Uzboy.

[Romanov, N. K.] Amu and Uzboy.
Samara: Samara Gubernskaya tipografiya, 1879. 1 l. portr., [4], III, 55 p. 20 x 13 cm. In the owner's binding. Saved the front cover of the publishing house (pasted). Scuffed binding, loss of paper fragments on the covers.  

The famous book of the disgraced Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich, removed from the court in Central Asia,

engaged in intensive scientific and business activities there and became the richest person in Tashkent.

Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich (1850-1918) - eldest son of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich ( second son of Emperor Nicholas I)

and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna. The first among the Romanovs to graduate from a higher educational institution — the General staff Academy.

Participant of the Khiva campaign of 1873 under the leadership of the Turkestan Governor-General K. p. Kaufman. Awarded the order of

SV. Vladimir of the 3rd degree. After returning from Central Asia, he actively participates in the work of the Russian geographical society

on the development of the Amu Darya expedition. In April 1874, he was actually expelled from the Royal family for theft.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna discovered in the marble Palace the loss of three expensive diamonds from the icon's salary,

 which the Emperor Nicholas I blessed her marriage with the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich. Nikolai Konstantinovich

 he was found guilty and exiled first to Vladimir province, then to Uman, and finally to Orenburg. In Orenburg Veliky

 the Prince is developing an optimal route for laying a railway connecting Turkestan with Russia, and is studying the possibility of shipping

 along the Amu Darya river with access to the Caspian sea via the uzbo. Nikolay Konstantinovich's research activity was reflected in his works:

"The waterway to Central Asia indicated by Peter the Great” (1877), " on choosing the shortest direction of the Central Asian railway” (1878),

 "Amu and Uzboy” (1879). In the winter of 1878, the Grand Duke married the daughter of the Orenburg police chief Nadezhda Alexandrovna Dreyer.

 By decree of the Holy Synod, the marriage was dissolved, and the Dreyer family was ordered to leave the city. Nadezhda Alexandrovna refused to leave her husband.

 In 1881, the marriage was legalized by Emperor Alexander III. Nikolai Konstantinovich and his wife were ordered to go to Tashkent.

Here the Grand Duke is engaged in business activities-he opens photographic workshops, billiard rooms, bakeries, and a cinema;

actively participates in the development of Turkestan: builds at its own expense the irrigation system of the Hungry steppe, establishes 10 scholarships for natives of Turkestan,

unable to pay for their studies in the best educational institutions of the Russian Empire; continues to collect Antiques and paintings:

its collection served as the Foundation Of the Museum of art of Uzbekistan.

Bibliography: international book, 53-26, 71-22; Mintslov. 807