Is there a way to recover an older version of my iPhoto database?
There are two ways to do this: 



1- You could open the folder in the Finder containing your iPhoto library (usually ~/Pictures) and initiate Time Machine by clicking the icon in the OS X system tray and selecting "Enter Time Machine." Use the time browser functionality to select a date that you wish to restore, then select the iPhoto library file, followed by the "Restore" button (see screenshot above)

2- You could manually browse to the location of your iPhoto library in the Time Machine backup. To do this, open the Finder, and locate the Time Machine drive that you use to backup your Mac. Double-click to open the disk image for the backup of your Mac, then navigate to Backups.backupdb | [Computer Name Here] | [Folder Containing Date You Wish to Browse] | [Macintosh HD] | Users | [Your Username] | Pictures. In this folder, you will see the iPhoto library file for the backup date that you are browsing. You can copy it to your Mac and optionally replace your local copy of the iPhoto library, if needed.