Traces the life of the Anglo-Irish woman who recreated herself as Spanish noblewoman Lola Montez and later became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria

For more than a century the history of the American Frontier, particularly the West, has been the speciality of the Arthur H. Clark Company. We publish new books, both interpretive and documentary, in small, high-quality editions for the collector, researcher, and library.

This advice book to women details rules of hygiene and beauty and reflects the values placed on maintaining the image of the "lady."

If you were to summarize the life of Lola Montez in a sentence, it would probably read something like this; Lola Montez was an Irish dancer from the 19th Century. Sure enough, she was all of those things. But there was much more to her than that. The woman who would become known as Lola Montez grew up in poverty in Ireland but she ascended to the heights of royalty, becoming a Bavarian Countess. She achieved this with nothing more than her own wit and charm. After rising to the top, she managed to use her powers of persuasion to champion liberal reforms. Such things were unheard of at the time but, for Lola, it was all part of the game. However, soon enough she overplayed her hand and had to move on. Fortunately for her, she was agile enough to do it. Because all throughout her turbulent life-no matter the circumstances-she was always able to gracefully make her exit and move forward with the ease and sense of impeccable timing that only a dancer could know.

An enthralling biography about one of the most intriguing women of the Victorian age: the first self-invented international social celebrity. Lola Montez was one of the most celebrated and notorious women of the nineteenth century. A raven-haired Andalusian who performed her scandalous "Spider Dance" in the greatest performance halls across Europe, she dazzled and beguiled all who met her with her astonishing beauty, sexuality, and shocking disregard for propriety. But Lola was an impostor, a self-invention. Born Eliza Gilbert, the beautiful Irish wild child escaped a stifling marriage and reimagined herself as Lola the Sevillian flamenco dancer and noblewoman, choosing a life of adventure, fame, sex, and scandal rather than submitting to the strictures of her era. Lola cast her spell on the European aristocracy and the most famous intellectuals and artists of the time, including Alexandre Dumas, Franz Liszt, and George Sand, and became the obsession of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She then set out for the New World, arriving in San Francisco at the height of the gold rush, where she lived like a pioneer and performed for rowdy miners before making her way to New York. There, her inevitable downfall was every bit as dramatic as her rise. Yet there was one final reinvention to come for the most defiant woman of the Victorian age--a woman known as a "savage beauty" who was idolized, romanticized, vilified, truly known by no one, and a century ahead of her time.