Love And War (1915) - new centenary reprint available!

During the First World War, Nadja published two more volumes of poems - Love & War (Arthur Humphrey, London 1915) and For Empire and Other Poems (Arthur Humphreys, London 1916). She donated the profits from these collections to the St Dunstan's Charity for Blind Servicemen (which opened in 1915) and The Royal Star & Garter Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors (which opened in 1916).

Now - one hundred years on, we are pleased to announce that the Nadja Malacrida Society has been able to produce a special reprint edition of the Love & War collection, in a 24 page booklet - which we are making available to support those same two charities.

Instead of selling copies and giving them the profits afterwards, we have donated a quantity of copies of the book to each of the two charities for them to sell / use in whatever way suits them best.

If you would particularly to support one or other of these two very good causes, the best thing to do would be to contact the charity of your choice (details below) and enquire how you can purchase a copy of Love and War from them so as to maximise their charitable income.

You can also order a copy straight from us, in which case the proceeds of the sale don't go direct to the charities but help to cover the costs of the books that we have already supplied to them.

St Dunstan's is now called Blind Veterans UK and you can find out more about them at www.blindveterans.org.uk 

The Royal Star And Garter Homes charity can be contacted at: http://starandgarter.org/







SORRY!  THIS IS SOLD OUT FOR THE TIME BEING - PLEASE CHECK BACK!

The Evergreen Poems (1912)

Nadja published her first collection of poems in 1912 when she was 17 and it included poems written from 1908 to 1911.  She used the penname of Nadja rather than using her own name of Louisa Nadia Green.

You can read the full text of this collection on Archive.org by clicking  HERE

  

Can You Help...? Seeking Historical Data About Mount Street / Park Lane

Is there anybody out there with access to Electoral Rolls or Planning information regarding Mayfair, London, in the 1920s and 30s?

We are trying to find out about the ground floor premises that the Marchsese Malacrida and his wife Najda occupied from 1922 to 1926.

 

It was described as a converted garage that had been transformed into the style of a Venetian pallazzo on the corner of Mount Street and Park Lane. We are wondering whether this would have been where the Grosvenor House Appartments are now – or on the other side where there appears to now be a BWM garage…?

Also, any information about the conversion project that the Marchese was doing at 53 Grosvenor Street during 1934/5.

If you can help in anyway, please feel free to drop us a line HERE

Can You Help Find Nadja's Date Of Birth ?

While there is a lot of information available about the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Nadja's untimely death on 3rd October 1934, we have been having trouble finding out her date of birth.

On the 1911 census return, which was filled out on 2nd April 1911, Nadja's father Charles E Green had her age as 15 and her place of birth as Hampstead, London. 

There is record of a Louisa Nadia Green born in the 3rd Quarter of 1895 in the District of Hampstead in London  (Register: Vol 1a Page 659) - which is presumably her - as there can't have been that many people called Louisa Nadia Green born in Hampstead around the same time.

If anybody can help us narrow down the actual date of her birth during that period, we would love to hear from you.

Please e-mail us  HERE

 

Basic Biography of Marchesa Nadja Malacrida

Marchesa Nadja Malacrida in 1929
(Portrait by Lafayette)

Nadja was the pen-name of Louisa Nadia Green, daughter of Mr and Mrs Charles Green and niece of Lord Cowdray.  Nadja was born in Hampstead in 1896.  By all accounts she was an accomplished athlete and also obtained her pilot's licence.

During the First World War, Nadja published three volumes of poetry - "Love and War" a collection of poems which was published in 1915,  "For Empire and other poems" published in 1916 (Arthur L. Humphreys) and "The Full Heart"  published in 1919.   All of these collections were sold in aid of St. Dunstans Home for Blind Soldiers* in London and The Star and Garter Home for Disabled Soldiers in Richmond.

On 6th December 1922, Nadja married Pier Malacrida de Saint-August, an Italian Marquess, with whom she collaborated on the writing of novels.  Nadja was also a broadcaster for the BBC,  regularly organising poetry readings which were very popular.   She wrote a syndicated newspaper column and introduced the idea of 'causerie recital' musical evenings.

Nadja took part in an early John Logie Baird television broadcast on 22nd February 1933, when from 11 - 11.30 television by the Baird Process (vision) was broadcast.   Sound was separate via the Wireless on 398.9 m. and the programme was only available in London.

During 1933 and 1934 Nadja was often heard on the National Programme (193kc-s 1554.4 m) reading extracts from popular books of both prose and poems, under the name Nadja Green.

Nadia and her husband were very popular in London's society scene and Pier, who had studied engineering at Leeds University was an interior designer, working on many prominent projects in London in the 1920s and 1930s.   They were friends of Cecil Roberts the author who lent them his country cottage "Pilgrim Cottage" near Henley while he was on a Greek cruise.   On her way back to London, Nadja's car left the road and she was killed instantly on 3rd October 1934. She is buried in Fair Mile Cemetery in Henley-on-Thames.