Inscribed by the author to 'the first female orthodox theologian'. Presentation copy to Mirra Lot-Borodina, a fellow émigré and pioneer in the study of Russian religious philosophy. Mirra Borodina, daughter of leading botanist, Ivan Borodin, was born in St Petersburg in 1882 and left Russia in 1905 to further her education. Four years later she received a doctorate in Paris for her study on the role of women in the work of medieval poet, Chrétien de Troyes.

Although Borodina had grown up in a family largely indifferent to religion and married a French historian (Professor Ferdinand Lot) who was an atheist, she was eager to immerse herself in the pursuit of religious truth, attending numerous lectures and meetings. Having settled in Paris years before the 1922 arrivals from the 'Philsopher's steamboat', Lot-Borodina was in many ways the original member of the 'Paris school' of Russian Christian philosophers. She became friends with Lev Karsavin, Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdiaev, Sergey Bulgakov and Semyon Frank and frequently hosted their meetings.

Not only a leading figure in the Russian community, Lot-Borodina hosted interdisciplinary discussions between Catholic and Orthodox theologians, counting Jacques Maritain as her close friend. Her published works were popular among French intellectuals and her prominent position proved helpful in attempting to quell pro-Nazi tendencies in the French clergy during WWII, famously writing that 'fear is a bad advisor'.

Lot-Borrodina produced outstanding original research in the fields of religious poetry, patristics and philosophy and was a key member in one of the most important circles of Russian thinkers of the early 20th century. Russian archives show extensive correspondence with Frank and Berdiaev yet her name has until fairly recently failed to reach the recognition in scholarly fields it deserves.

The present copy is signed on the title page 'Mnogouvazhemiy Mirra Ivanovna Lot-Borodina, ot vashego (?) predannogo avtora'. [To the much respected Mirra Ivanova Lot-Borodina, from your dedicated author'.

First edition, 2 vols, 12mo (18.5 x 14 cm); 271, 233 pp., ink inscription to title page of vol. I to Mirra Ivanova Lot Borodina from the author; original printed wrappers (vol. II in black and red), ink stain to upper cover of vol. I, minor restoration to spines of both volumes, a fine example.