Extensive, scholarly, and with Imeretian dialect --- First edition of this important Georgian grammar - a lovely example, uncut in the original blue wrappers, complete with two folding plates. The French orientalist Marie-Félicité Brosset (1802-80) "laid the foundation of Georgian (and Armenian) philology. [.] Brosset had practical command of both Georgian and Armenian and contributed to the spread of the knowledge of these cultures in Western Europe in the fields of both philology and history" (Hewitt). When in France, he faced a shortage of materials on the Georgian language and obtained permission from the French government to continue his exploration in Georgia and Russia where he arrived in 1837. He obtained an assistant professorship for Armenian and Georgian literature at the Imperial Academy of Saint Petersburg, notably publishing there in 1849 a history of Georgia entirely in Georgian. Brosset also became State Councillor and Curator of Oriental Coins at the Hermitage. In 1835, the Société Asiatique commissioned Brosset to finish up the Georgian grammar by the German linguist and ethnographer Julius Klaproth (1783-1835) who had just died. Klaproth intended to base "his work on the seventeenth-century list of 3,084 entries published in 1629 in Rome by the missionaries Stefano Paolini and Niceforo Irbach" (Hewitt). However since Brosset had a better command of the language and had other philological views, he changed the plan of the work, and the already typed part by Klaproth was supplied with his own comments and a list of corrected errors. The resulting Éléments de la langue géorgienne was published two years later and became "the third Georgian language manual published in the West" (Iodko). At the time, the work was a real tour de force, given the growing interest in the Caucasus and almost total absence of Georgian speakers in the West. The Éléments can be considered as a much more advanced and multisided continuation of Brosset's earlier work, L'art libéral ou Grammaire géorgienne, published as a manuscript lithographically in Paris in 1834. The present work starts with a long "Tableau raisonné de la littérature georgienne" structured in thematic sections with the author's comments, including a list of works and magazine articles on Georgia, "aux personnes qui penseraient que les ressources sont peu abondantes pour l'étude de la langue géorgienne, ou que cette littérature n'est pas assez riche pour payer leurs efforts" (Brosset). The lower wrapper actually lists four available works about Georgian literature and language, including Klaproth's Vocabulaire and three works by Brosset. The following section gives attention both to the literary alphabet, "ecclesiastique", mainly present in religious texts, and to the so-called "vulgaire" for everyday communications. Each part of speech is thoroughly explained and presented in useful vocabulary units, even including one for interjections, in which readers can learn how to say "ew", "Oh! Oh! Oh!", or to call a cat, dog and chicken among others. At the end of his work Brosset includes a series of reading exercises with literal and proper translations of general and idiomatic expressions and different types of alphabets, dialects and styles of writing. Two folding plates display two Georgian alphabets and a list of abbreviations. This edition was reprinted in 1974 by Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück. Provenance: Physical description:Large 8vo (24 x 16 cm). Half-title, title, LVI and 365 pp., erratum leaf, with two folding plates. Partly unopened in original publisher's blue printed wrappers. Condition:Wrappers minimally rubbed or soiled, lower cover a tiny bit more worn; crisp internally, with only minor occasional foxing, a handful of leaves almost loose or detached. Bibliography:George Hewitt, "The Russian Imperial Academy and Western Transcaucasia (late-eighteenth century to the 1850s)", material from the conference Research and Identity: non-Russian Peoples in the Russian Empire, 1800-1855, Kymenlaakso Summer University (Finland), June 2006; Iodko O. V., "Akademiku Mari-Felisite Brosse 190 let" // Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie: Almanakh, Vyp. 5, 1994, pp. 451-484.
An "unsurpassed work of Russian and world literature" (Lenin) --- First complete edition of this early masterpiece by Dostoevsky, greatly appreciated by Tolstoy and which Lenin described as an 'unsurpassed work of Russian and world literature'. Dostoevsky's passionate description of life in a Siberian prison camp is based on his own experience of four years of imprisonment in Katoga prison camp near Omsk, Siberia. It "provided the Russian public with its first, terrifying image of what lay ahead for those sentenced for a political crime [.] No writer was now more celebrated than Dostoevsky, whose name was surrounded with the halo of his former suffering" (Frank). Marked as "second edition" on the title pages, this edition follows the publication of volume one only, by Eduard Prats, and the serial publication by Bazunov in the periodical Vremia [Time], both also in 1862. Provenance: Mikhail Krasnov (European private collector). Physical description:Two volumes in one 8vo. Complete with half-titles. Contemporary Russian brown roan spine over burgundy cloth panelled in blind. Condition:Binding a bit rubbed, rebacked retaining most of the original spine retained, small blue ink dealer's stamp to lower endpapers; some foxing or staining throughout as often, a bit stronger on first half-title and last page. Bibliography:Frank, Dostoevsky. The Stir of Liberation, p.140; Kilgour 279 (this edition).
Tolstoy's life and thoughts: a gathering of scarce pamphlets --- Lovely Sammelband of works by and about Tolstoy, most in first Russian editions, including one illustrated by Nadezhda Zhivago. The first pamphlet was forbidden in Russia, like many editions of 'Nikolai Palkin', an anti-militarist novella about punishments and torture in the army under Nicholas I and Alexander II. The story is based on the eye-witnessing account of a 95-year-old soldier, whom Tolstoy met in 1886. The work remained banned in tsarist Russian even after the censorship was lifted in 1905, and it came out in Petrograd only in 1917. 'Nikolai Palkin' is here published together with 'Emilian the Worker' and 'Too Dear!', two variations of Tolstoy on previous texts: the first, written in 1886, is a take on the folk take 'An Empty Drum' published by Sadovnikov in 1884; the second is a rendition of Maupassant's "Sur l'eau" (1888). Both 'Nikolai Palkin' and 'Emilian the Worker' were published first outside Russia, by Elpidine in Geneva, both in 1891. Sophia Tolstoy tried to include 'Emilian' in Tolstoy's collected works in 1892, but the censors cut it out from the proofs. Eventually, it came out in Russia in a censored form in a 1892 collection published as part of famine relief. Then it came out in this, uncensored, edition by Chertkov; it appeared in Russia as uncensored in 1906, published by Posrednik. 'Too Dearl', a satire on capital punishment, appears here for very first time, with Chertkov's slight deviations from Tolstoy's manuscript. In Russia it was published for the first time, in this version, in 1901, by Kliukin ("Dorogo stoit" i drugiie rasskazy), and then, with even more deviations, in the 12th Collected Works in 1911 (see Notes to Vol. 27 of Tolstoy's Collected Works in 90 volumes, Moskva, 1936, p.680). The volume includes also the first edition in the original Russian of two tales by Tolstoy, 'The Assyrian King Assarkhadon' and 'Three questions', both written in 1903. The first text was inspired by an anonymous tale 'Das bist du', published in the German periodical 'Theosophischer Wegweiser' (1903, 5). Tolstoy started writing 'The Three Questions' in competition with Leskov in 1887. The main idea was to write a parable about the three following questions: which time is the best for doing things, which people are the best to spend time with, and what activity is the best to do. Tolstoy's first variant of the story, titled 'Mudraia devitsa' ['The Wise Girl'], appeared in his collection 'Tsvetnik' (Kiev, 1888). This new version however was finished much later, on 9 August 1903. On 20 August Tolstoy sent 'The Assyrian King Assarkhadon' and 'Three questions' to Sholem Aleichem for publication, in a Yiddish translation, in the collection 'Gilph' (Warsaw, 1903), in aid of victims of Kishinev pogroms. Tolstoy's publishing company, Posrednik', produced the original Russian slightly later, to allow time for the charity edition. A the third tale, 'Trud, smert i bolesn' ['Labour, Death and Illness'] was banned by the Russian censors. This edition is attractively illustrated by Nadezhda Ivanovna Zhivago (1875-after 1930), an artist, translator, and children's author. An aristocrat by birth, she studied under Leonid Pasternak and worked for the publisher Sytin. She emigrated after the revolution, and from 1923 lived in the USA, working as a translator at the International Institute in Los Angeles. The fact that she is the namesake of the protagonist of 'Doktor Zhivago' is a coincidence: in a conversation with Varlam Shalamov, Leonid's son Boris Pasternak said that he chose the name as it was popular in Siberia, and also because the word "zhivago" in a Russian Orthodox prayer means "living [God]" (Shalamov V. Sobraniie sochinenii. V. 4. Moskva, 2005). Both pamphlets by Tolstoy are separated in this volume by the first edition in Russian of Anna Seuron's account of her life as a governess of Tolstoy's daughters. This is a translation by S. Sergiievskii of the original German, published the same year in Berlin by S. Cronbach. Provenance: Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1880-1963, a British electronic engineer of Belarus descent best known for his contribution to the development of the first fully electronic television system); by descent, the scholar Peter Gatrell and his wife Jane; acquired directly from their estate. Physical description:Six works in three publications, bound together in one volume 8vo (20 x 14 cm; Palkin smaller: block 18.5 x 11.5 cm). Palkin: 29 pp. inc. title, [3] pp. publisher's announcements and catalogue; Shest let: half-title, title, frontispiece with portrait of Tolstoy, 106, [2] pp. t.o.c.; Assarkhadon: 30 inc. title and leaf with ill., [1] p. ill., with 7 full-page illustrations in text by Zhivago. Later straight-grained brown morocco spine over burgundy cloth, spine with raised bands without lettering, third work with printed lower wrapper bound in. Condition:Spine very lightly sunned; except a couple of marginal spots to a few leaves of second work, very clean and fresh, third work with light trace of horizontal fold. Bibliography:Svod. Kat. russk. nelegalnoi i zapreshchennoi pechati XIX veka 2045 for the first publication.
'South to the Great Steppe' - with his wife --- First edition of this adventurous tour made in 1849-56, important for Central Asia, Mongolia, but also nowadays Kazakhstan as Nick Fielding showed in his recent book 'South to the Great Steppe". The map is especially remarkable. Atkinson, English traveller and painter, was inspired by Alexander von Humboldt to travel through Russia and Central Asia in 1845. A year later he journeyed to Siberia and on through the Kirghiz-Kazakh steppe - together with his wife Lucy, who was as adventurous a traveller as him. Their narrative describes many fascinating details, including their communications with Kazakh people and their stay with the Khalka Mongols and the crossing of the Mongolian plains. Provenance: From the estate of Geoffrey Elliott (1939-2021), banker of Russian descent, author of books on 20th-c. history. Geoffrey and his wife Fay were noted collectors, especially of Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and other literary figures. Russia was also an important theme: Geoffrey's grandparents were interned in a Siberian tsarist prison camp before the October Revolution, and he focused most of his published works on the Cold War. The Elliotts donated a significant part of their collection to the library of Leeds University in 2002, but kept the Russia-related items, which we consequently acquired. Physical description:Octavo. viii, [4], 611, [2] pp.; one flarge olding map, 20 hand-coloured lithographed plates, 35 illustrations in text. Original green blind-stamped cloth gilt. Condition:Cloth minimally rubbed, bright; occasional light foxing, a closed tear to the folding plate, otherwise rather clean, an attractive copy. Bibliography:
"The most popular edition [.] by the outstanding Ukrainian artist" (Lebedeva) --- "The first work written wholly in the Ukrainian language" (Britannica) here in a striking artistic interpretation. Rare outside Ukraine and Russia: we could not locate any copy of this edition in libraries and auctions in the West. The famous burlesque-travesty Aeneid (1798; the complete version published in 1842) distinguished Ivan Kotliarevskii (1769-1838) as "the father of modern Ukrainian literature" (Britannica). In the poem, Kotliarevskii transformed the heroes of Virgil's Aeneid into dispossessed Ukrainian Cossacks of the period after the destruction of Zaporozhian Host by the order of Catherine the Great in 1775. He brought together with praise and irony different elements of life and culture of Ukrainian society of the second half of the 18th century and included "valuable materials not only from the vernacular but also from various distinctive idioms; e.g., those of seminarians, wanderers, and thieves" (Britannica). It was Kotliarevskii's Aeneid that "became the pinnacle of the work by the outstanding Ukrainian artist" (Lebedeva, our translation here and elsewhere) Anatolii Bazylevych (19262005), "one of the artists who determined the image of Ukrainian art in the second part of the 20th century" (Kerziouk). Bazylevych created around 130 colourful and sometimes transgressive illustrations for Kotliarevskii's magnum opus in 1967; the first edition with his illustrations came out in 1968, and was republished 17 times over the next years, with many editions having slight changes to some of the daring illustrations with female nudes. For this work, Bazylevych was awarded the title of the Honoured Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1969. This edition focuses on 12 exemplary brightly coloured illustrations, each captioned with corresponding excerpts from the poem. Our copy retains its original folder, also strikingly illustrated. Provenance: Physical description:Twelve 8vo printed cards in publisher's illustrated folder. Condition:Folder lightly rubbed at extremities, small creases towards edges, light marginal soiling and staining; the cards nicely fresh. Bibliography:The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Ivan Kotlyarevsky", Encyclopaedia Britannica. Narivska, N.D. "'Aeneid' by Anatolii Bazylevych: Picturesque Mythologization of Poem by Ivan" // Slovo i Chas, 2019, 3. pp. 92-104. Lebedeva, Kateryna. "Eney buv parubok motornyy" // Biblioteka ukrayinskoho mystetstva. Kerziouk, Olga. "The Aeneid of Bazylevych celebrating Kotlyarevsky's masterpiece", European Studies at the British Library, 2017.
Faith in your pocket --- The first miniature Gospels in Russian - a beautiful set in superb condition, with fine literary and artistic provenance. Small-format editions became popular in Russia from the late 1830s onwards. They were first literary, and the first, true miniature edition of the Gospels was only this one, published in 1907, by the Synod Printing House. The Gospel of Luke is here in this first edition, the other being in the identical second issue of 1909. A set of the 1909 issue was magnificently bound in Fabergé style by the Stroganov academy and is now kept in the Kremlin museums. The text is based on the modern Russian translation (as opposed to the more traditional Church Slavonic), first published in St Petersburg in 1819. It is remarkably legible in spite of the size of the volumes. Interestingly, this remarkable edition was published on the site of the most ancient Russian printing house: indeed the Synod Printing House was erected in 1811 where the Moscow Print Yard was created. There, in 1564, Ivan Fedorov and Petr Timofeev (Mstislavets) published the first dated Russian book, 'The Apostle', which included Acts and Epistles of the Apostles. The first complete edition of the Bible in the Old Church Slavonic was published by Fedorov in 1581 outside Russia, in Ostrog, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (modern territory of Ukraine). It remained the official version used by the Russian Orthodox Church, until Peter I ordered a new translation of the Bible from the Greek, which appeared during the reign of his daughter Empress Elizaveta, in 1751. The second 1756 revised edition of the Elizabeth Bible remains the official version used by the Russian Orthodox Church. From the collection of Vera Kvil-Tishchenko (also Kwill, née Tishenko). The daughter of an ex-revolutionary nobleman turned oil and mining manager, Vera gathered a significant art collection, together with her husband, the architect and engineer Isidor Nikolaevich Kvil (1874-1950). Her collection included in particular major porcelain figures, and artworks by Sergei Sudeikin and his circle: she was a close friend of the dancer Olga Glebova-Sudeikina, Sudeikin's first wife. The famous artist Savelii Sorin (also Sorine) painted her portraitin 1918, known for its appearance in the magazine 'Zhar-Ptitsa' [Firebird] (Berlin, 1921. No 2.). Tishchenko also had major editions in her library, including lifetime editions of Pushkin, which she lent, together with some porcelains, to Lifar's landmark exhibition "Pouchkineet sonépoque" held in Paris in 1937. Provenance: Acquired from the estate of Vera Kvil-Tishchenko (1890-1968), partly dispersed by her heirs in 2023. Physical description:Four volumes (5 x 3.7 cm). Matthew: 346 pp. incl. title (of 348, see 'Condition'); Mark: 218 pp. incl. title (of 220); Luke: title and 366 pp.; John: 279 pp. incl. title (of 281). Contemporary full crushed dark green morocco, flat spines with gilt fillets, gilt lettering to covers, green patterned endpapers, all edges gilt; kept in the original slipcase of same leather, internal lining of same paper. Condition:Half-titles removed by the binder, box very minimally rubbed at extremities, otherwise in excellent condition. Bibliography:Tarakanova O.L., Antikvarnaia kniga, Moskva: Izd-vo MGAP "Mir knigi", 1996; for the Kremlin set: S. Haag (ed.), Die Welt von Fabergé, Kunst Historisches Museum Wien, no. 131.
One of the most famous and enduring conspiracy theories --- Important émigré edition of the most notorious of anti-semitic slanders, famous for its visual cover. "The Protocols" is an anti-semitic hoax purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, later translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century. The text purports to document the minutes of a late 19th-c. meeting of Jewish leaders discussing their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the morals of "gentiles", and by controlling the press and the world's economies. Following the October Revolution, the Protocols of Zion came to be seen in a new light by the Russian right. Viewed through the prism of their anti-semitic beliefs, the predominantly Jewish make-up of the new Bolshevik government appeared to provide material proof of the prophecies that the text had purportedly first revealed. In order to make those links explicit, this émigré edition uses as its cover a photograph of some Soviet officials titled "The Jewish Government in Russia" (without neither Stalin nor Lenin - although some other anti-semitic works claimed Lenin was also Jewish!). The text of the 24 protocols comes from Nilus' 1911 edition, with addition of an extensive introduction by the publisher, Duke Mikhail Gorchakov. Books on Jewish and Masonic conspiracies abounded during the early years of Russian emigration, finding fertile ground amongst the more reactionary elements of the community. In reality, these works tend to reveal rather less about the given subject matter than they do about the émigré community's own attempts to make sense of their own unhappy fate. In 1930s it was proved that the source material for the forged text consisted jointly of "Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu", an 1864 political satire by Maurice Joly and a chapter from "Biarritz", an 1868 novel by the anti-semitic German novelist Hermann Goedsche. Provenance: Physical description:Octavo (23.5 x 16.2 cm). 64 pp. incl. title page. Original publisher's upper wrapper including a photogravure bound in near contemporary green cloth. Condition:Cloth warped, wrapper with ownership inscription in Cyrillic dated march (19)43; some creasing throughout, occasional minor staining and marginal pencil marks, last page with blue pencil crossing. Bibliography:
Foreign aristocrats serving in Russia at the start of the 19th c. --- Inscribed by the translator to the future Napoleon III,who was elected the President of the French Second Republic the following year: "à Son Altesse, Le Prince Napoleon L. Bonaparte temoignage d'estime et d'amitié de la part de D. Forbes Campbell Londres 20 Avril '47". This is the first edition in English of these reminiscences of the German Baron vom Stein (17571831) and the Italian Count Pozzo di Borgo (17641842), both of whom had served in Russia under Alexander I, and their connections to Napoleon I. The work was written by Count Ouvaroff (1786-1855), a Russian classical scholar best remembered as an influential imperial statesman under Nicholas I of Russia, and author of various essays. Published originally in French in 1846, "a few copies were printed at St. Petersburg for the distribution among the literary and political friends of the author. Ten of these copies were sent to Paris, where, through the indiscretion of some person, detached portions appeared in the French newspapers, and to complete the indelicacy of the proceeding, the name of the author was divulged" (Preface). D. Forbes Campbell published this English translation just a year after the original. Rare: WorldCat locates only 2 copies outside Europe, at Trinity College, CT and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Provenance: Physical description:Octavo (22.5 × 15 cm), pp. iv, [5]24. Uncut and stab-sewn as issued. Condition:Vertical crease where previously folded, fore-edge a little ragged; first and last pages dust-soiled, a couple of stains to the title. Bibliography:Cat. Russica O-659.
A "bright brute [with an] elaborate and rapturous composition" (Nabokov) - in the original wrappers --- First edition of Nabokov's second novel, "the most 'non-Russian' of [his] Russian-language works" (Babikov, our translation here and below). "Of all my novels this bright brute is the gayest. Expatriation, destitution, nostalgia had no effect on its elaborate and rapturous composition", Nabokov wrote in his foreword to the 1968 English translation of 'King, Queen, Knave'. The idea of the novel emerged in the summer of 1927, when the writer was at a resort on the shores of the Pomeranian Bay together with his wife and two Berlin pupils. By the time of the novel's publication the following year, Nabokov had been living in exile in Berlin for around six years, but still "spoke no German, had no German friends, had not read a single German novel either in original, or in translation" (Nabokov). The novel reflects this alienation and reveals a somewhat hostile attitude towards its main characters, a young German man Franz, his uncle Dreyer and Dreyer's wife Martha who starts a love affair with Franz and plots with him to kill her husband. "Despite the fact that the plot is based on a trivial adulterous affair borrowed from pulp fiction, the artistic originality of the novel is [indisputable]. The author masterfully balances between the banality of the literary clichés and witty parody. At first glance, he seriously follows the clichéd scheme, but at the same time he "dismisses" it, parodies it, sometimes turning it inside out" (Melnikov). The novel proved to be very successful despite mixed reviews from the Russian diaspora. The German translation followed shortly, for which Nabokov received "probably the largest royalties for the entire Russian-speaking period of his work [.]. In commercial terms, 'King, Queen, Knave' can be considered Sirin's most fortunate project, originally designed for success among the mass, primarily foreign, readers" (Babikov). Indeed, by the end of the 1920s the Russian book market, "which had swelled during the years of inflation in Germany, gradually shrunk due to the impoverishment of emigration [.]. Only those writers who were translated into foreign languages and who were successful in their translations could make a living" (Struve, quoted by Babikov). The payment for this work allowed Nabokov and his wife Vera to clear their debts and to take their first butterfly expedition in the Pyrenees. Provenance: M. Durdin (?, pencil inscription to last leaf of text). Physical description:Octavo (21 x 14.5 cm). 260 pp. incl. first blank and title, IV pp. ads. Publisher's printed wrappers. Condition:Wrappers a bit soiled and stained, with minor skilful restoration, neatly recased; the odd spot, a few minor marginal closed tears repaired with japan paper, publisher's catalogue at end unopened. Bibliography:Juliar A9.1; Babikov, A. "Klassik bez retushi", intr. to Korol, dama, valet by Vladimir Nabokov, Izdatelstvo AST, 2021; Melnikov, N. "Vladimir Nabokov. 'Korol, dama, valet'"// TamIzdat: 100 izbrannykh knig. OLMA, 2014.
Pushkin's Russia in figures --- First edition of this compact yet extensive study by "the first Russian scientist to lay the foundations for statistical research in Russia" (Zhukovskaia, our translation here and elsewhere). A lovely example, fresh and attractively bound. Rare outside Russia: of the handful of copies in WorldCat, only two complete in the US (Harvard and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; NYPL seems to hold only one volume out of two), and we couldn't find any other example selling at auction. Evdokim Filippovich Ziablovskii (17631846) was a geographer, professor at St Petersburg University and a statesman. He developed a few manuals and textbooks of Russian statistics, based on his own in-field studies and the works of his foreign colleagues, including Bernhard Andreas von Heim and Johann Georg Heinrich Hassel. Through his works, which are often considered "the first statistical courses for broader audience to be published in Russian" (Zhukovskaia), Ziablovskii significantly promoted geographic, statistical and ethnographic knowledge in Russia when these fields were still underdeveloped. He additionally taught geography at the Pedagogical Institute of St Petersburg, forestry at the Naval School and general and national history at the public courses for civil servants. This Rossiiskaia statistika is fascinating for the extent of its data about Russia and its population in the early 19th century, from the climatic conditions, soil and water quality to the observations about the national educational level (with a division between "moral education" and mental literacy). Ziablovskii also presents interesting information about the population growth and the number of inhabitants based on their religious beliefs, ethnicity, wealth and whether they live in cities or villages. Additionally, he introduces data about the laws and regulations in the Russian Empire, the structure of the government, armed forces, the country's international relations, and the national industries by category (including winemaking, forestry, fisheries, silk farming and gemstone mining). The work is generally based on his earlier, five-part study published over 10 years, the Statisticheskoe opisanie Rossiiskoi imperii s obozreniem Evropy v statisticheskom vide [Statistical Description of the Russian Empire with a Statistical Review of Europe] (1808-15): our 8vo volume is a more compact and accessible read about the diverse aspects of the Russian Empire in figures. A second edition was published in 1842. Provenance: Physical description:Two parts in one 8vo volume (21 x 13 cm). Title, [2] preface, [2] t.o.c., and 186 pp.; Title, [2] t.o.c., 201 pp., errata leaf. Contemporary sheep spine over marbled boards, flat spine with gilt fillets, gilt lettering and fleurons in blind, marbled edges and marbled endpapers. Condition:Binding lightly rubbed, light foxing on titles, otherwise crisp and fresh, a very pleasant example. Bibliography:Zhukovskaia T. N., Sidorchuk I. V., "Ziablovskii Evdokim Filippovich", Biografika SPbGU. Vlasova N. V., "Ziablovskii Evdokim Filippovich", Demograficheskii entsiklopedicheskii slovar // Sovetskaia entsiklopediia, Glavnyi redaktor D. I. Valentei, Moskva, 1985.
Great copy with great provenance --- A very rare French-Russian dictionary, elegantly printed at the French "Royal" press in 1815, the year of Napoleon's demise. We could not trace any copy at auction in recent decades, including in France, where apparently the only example in a public library is in the BnF. With fine and appropriate provenance: the exquisite copy of the French Ambassador to Russia Prosper de Barante (1782-1866). In the preface, the author describes it as a dictionary of the most common words for Russian-French conversations to facilitate the communication between the two nations and to help both learn each other's language. Briefly explaining the rules of reading Russian alphabet at the beginning, the dictionary is divided into three parts for nouns, adjectives and verbs in French alphabetic order, followed by almost ten pages of comparative tables of French and Russian currencies and measures of weight and distance. The largest part introducing Russian nouns shows a curious selection of the "most common conversational" words, divided into thematic groups, which surprisingly start with accidents and illnesses, then vices and virtues, animals, food, military terms among many others. Interestingly, some of the words are presented in their diminutive forms or sometimes with a few minor mistakes, showing that the author might have briefly heard some of the words and wrote them down as he thought they would be spelled. With an elegant Russian type, including cursive for some titles, the dictionary was printed at the royal presses (imprimerie royale) for Louis Théophile Barrois (1780-1855), a bookdealer, specialising on works in foreign languages, including exotic ones, such as Persian and even Sanskrit. "The name of Barrois has always been associated with the Parisian trade in foreign literature. His bookshop's fame increased over the years and it was, by the turn of the nineteenth century, one of the best-stocked outlets of foreign literature, particularly English, German, and Spanish" (Nicolás Bas Martín, Spanish Books in the Europe of the Enlightenment, Boston, 2018). Interestingly, the publication took place just a few years after Napoleon's invasion to Russia in 1812. It is most likely it was printed either before April or after June 1815 when Napoleon was ultimately defeated at the battle of Waterloo. From April to June 1815, Napoleon reclaimed power in France and the royal press was named impériale. A year later, Hamoniere published a book of Russian-French dialogues at the same press for Barrois. Provenance: Bibliotheque de M de Barante (shelf labels to upper and lower pastedowns) - one of the largest private collections in France, built up during more than three centuries by successive generations of the Brugieres family, located at the Château de Barante in France. Among the collection's owners is Prosper de Barante who enriched the family library with numerous works related to his long career as a man of letters, politician, historian and diplomat who maintained close relations with Benjamin Constant, Madame Récamier and Madame de Staël. Physical description:Octavo (19.2 x 13.5 cm). XII pp. incl. half-title and title and 172 pp. Contemporary full light-brown polished calf, flat spine richly gilt, darker-brown calf label lettered in gilt, covers with gilt fillets and rollwork, gilt fillet to board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges yellow, green silk bookmark. Condition:Minimal sunning to spine and minor light scratches, the gold decorations very bright; marginal minor paper flaw without affecting text p.99-100, light foxing at beginning and end, and block edges. Bibliography:Diana Cooper-Richet, Littérature étrangère et monde du livre, à Paris, au XIX° siècle, 2004 (online); Cat. Russica H-139.
Ukraine's ancient history and culture --- First edition of this extensive, richly illustrated catalogue the archaeological collection which became the core of the National Art Museum of Ukraine. An imposing volume in fine condition, very rarely appearing fully complete as here: we could not trace any copy at Western auctions in recent decades, and only one in Russia, 15 years ago. WorldCat rarely mentions whether all volumes are complete; we could trace 9 holdings with 6 volumes, including 5 in the US (Met, Columbia, Princeton, Urbana-Champ. and Harvard/Dumbarton Oaks). Made of 6 parts published over 8 years, the 'Drevnosti' is a detailed, scientific work, finely produced by the leading Ukrainian publisher of the time, and boasting more than 170 plates. It covers artefacts found during extensive archaeological excavations conducted in the late 19th century in the region of the middle Dnipro, Ukraine's main river, and its tributaries, to the shores of the Black Sea. The text and illustrations, produced by leading archaeologists, describe and study tools, jewels and other items made from clay, stone, bone, bronze, iron, gold, and amber, discovered in ancient settlements, ancient Slavic shrines and Scythian burial mounds. There are monuments of the Trypillian culture and artefacts resembling the "animal" style of the Sarmatian-Scythian culture. Overall the work covers items from the end of the Stone and Bronze Ages (around 7th century BC) to the 13th century. The 6 issues are: 1. Kamennyi i bronzovyi veka. Ages de la pierre et du bronze. 1899 2 & 3. Epokha, predshestvuiushchaia velikomu pereseleniu narodov. Époque antérieure à la grande émigration des peuples. 1899-1900 4. Epokha velikago pereseleniia narodov. Époque de la grande émigration des peuples. 1901 5. Epokha slavianskaia (VI-XIII v.). Époque slave (VI-XIII sc). 1902 6. Drevnosti pridneprovia i poberezhia chernago moria . Antiquitiés de la region du Dniepre et des côtes de la Mer Noire. 1907 The collection belonged to Bogdan Khanenko (also Hanenko, 1849-1917), a descendant of a Ukrainian hetman, and his wife Varvara (1852-1922). Patrons and collectors, they acquired world art, and simultaneously financed archaeological excavations in their homeland, adding not only artistic but also historical significance to their collection. The Khanenkos' collection became the foundation of one of the most important museums of Ukraine: first the Kiev Artistic and Industrial Scientific Museum founded by them in 1904, which then became the National Art Museum of Ukraine. It is worth noting that, due to the 20th-c. wars, evacuations, revolutions and nationalisation, parts of the collection were irretrievably lost, making this publication an essential source on the ancient history of Ukraine. Provenance: Physical description:Six issues bound in one thick 4to volume. Complete with all title pages, plates captioned in Russian and French. Contemporary brown pebble-grained morocco spine over patterned boards. Condition:Binding minimally rubbed, the odd stain otherwise in fine condition. Bibliography:
The first significant German-Russian dictionary --- Most likely the first grammar of Russian published in Russia, and what is known as "the first attempt to publish a German-Russian dictionary in Russia" (Guberti, but see below) - and one of the earliest works in German printed in Russia. Very rare on the market: the only copy appearing at auction since WW2 seems to have been in 1985, and it was incomplete. As the preface mentions, this Lexicon, printed by the prestigious Akademiia Nauk in St. Petersburg, originated from the influential dictionary Lexikon bipartitum latino-germanicum et germanico-latinum by the theologian Erich Weismann (1641-1717) and published much earlier, in 1674 in Stuttgart. According to the Svod. Kat., the Russian translation was added to Weismann's basis by a group of Russian academicians: Ilinskii, Satarov and Gorlitskii; however some earlier scholars ascribed the preparation of the edition to Vasilii Adodurov (1709-80, see below for grammatical work), and some even suggested that the translation was made in the 17th century because a dated orthography and grammar used here for Russian words, while the preface seems contemporary to 1731 (Bakmeister, quoted by Guberti). The bibliographer Guberti wrote in the 1870s: "although all the editions of Weismann's Lexicon in German and Russian are long forgotten, this first edition of 1731 by the Academy of Sciences will always remain remarkable as the first attempt to publish a German-Russian dictionary in Russia" (our translation here and elsewhere). We could however trace a Grammatika nemetskaia; Die Teutsche Grammatica, published in St Petersburg a year earlier and containing a small vocabulary (about 500 words only) that yet was added primarily to illustrate the German orthographic principles. In parallel, an Amsterdam-based man of letters, Ilia Kopievskii, published there in 1700 a Nomenclator in lingua latina, germanica et russica, before two St. Petersburg editions in 1718 (200 copies) and 1720 (600 copies) as Vokabuly ili rechi na slavenskom, nemetskom i latinskom iazykakh [Vocabularies or speeches in Slavonic, German and Latin], before being published again in 1732. Kopievskii's work was however only about 100-page long, in the 8vo format. As a result, Guberti's description should be nuanced and completed: with almost 800 pages, 14,000 words including everyday expressions and idioms, a 4to format and a 2500-copy printrun, Weismann's Russian version reaches a completely different, much more important scale than the couple of its predecessors. "It soon became a bibliographic rarity" (Makeeva), and remained an important reference work for the whole 18th century: a second edition came out in 1782 (without preface), and two other ones in 1799. Our edition also includes one of the earliest printed works on Russian grammar, ie. non-Slavonic. This Anfangs-Gründe der russischen Sprache was written by Vasilii Adodurov, the first Russian adjunct of the Academy of Sciences, educator and teacher. Following Heinrich Ludolf's groundbreaking Grammatica Russica (Oxford, 1696) and Ilia Kopievskii's Manuductio in grammaticam in sclavonico Rosseanam seu Moscoviticam (Stolzenberg, 1706), this work is most likely the first Russian grammar book published in Russia. Adodurov's 48-page long survey accessibly explains parts of speech, syntax, pronunciation of Russian letters and reasons why some of the letters became obsolete. As Ershova notes, this work "paved the way to the appearance of [Mikhail] Lomonosov's [famous] Grammar" of 1755-57. It is worth noting that this dictionary belongs to a very thin corpus of Russian books printed at that time: according to Svod. Kat., only 11 Russian works (incl. ours) were printed in 1731 in the Empire. Our edition was probably intended for the growing population of Germans in Russia, as well as for Russians actively picking up German: under Peter the Great and his successors, the knowledge of European languages became a task of national importance for the developing administrative and military spheres, as well as diplomacy. The increasing Russian interest for the German language was particularly encouraged by Anna Ioannovna who actively appointed Germans to senior posts in her administration and at the Academy of Sciences - which published the dictionary. A surprisingly fresh, attractive example with provenance. This copy belonged to Henning Adolf Gyllenborg (1713-75), a Swedish diplomat, politician a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences (since 1752); he travelled to St. Petersburg in 1742 to promote peace negotiations with the Russian court in the midst of the Russo-Swedish War of 17411743. Provenance: Henning Adolf Gyllenborg (inscription to upper fly-leaf). Physical description:Two parts in one volume 4to (24 x 19.5 cm). Title, preface leaf, 788 and 48 pp. incl. section title of second part, woodcut head- and tail-pieces. Full catspaw marbled calf to style, spine with raised bands gilt in compartments, leather label lettered in gilt, gilt turn-ins, contemporary blue marbled edges and marbled endpapers. Condition:Except a couple of marginal stains at beginning, a beautifully fresh, crisp example. Bibliography:Svod. Kat. 881; Sopikov 5911; Guberti, III-14; Bitovt 617. Unbegaun, B. O. "Cards and Card-Playing in Muscovite Russia," The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 41, no. 96, 1962, pp. 2530. Ershova, E. O. "Leksikograficheskiie raboty F. Geltergofa i E. Veismanna v rasprostranenii russkogo iazyka za predelami Rossii", Vestnik Cherepovetskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, vol. 1, no. 3., 2012, pp. 58-61. Makeeva V. N. "Adiunkt Akademii nauk V. E. Adodurov", Vestnik RAN, 1974, no.1, pp. 110-117. Babaeva E., Zapolskaia N., "Iazykovoi kontinuum Petrovski epokhi: obzor grammaticheskikh traktatov pervoi chetverti XVIII v.", Issledovaniia po slavianskomu istoricheskomy iazykoznaniiu, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo Universiteta, 1993.
Yalta's bay on a 1.5m panorama --- A fine, wide panorama of the famous Crimean resort, well preserved and here strikingly presented in full-morocco covers. Rarely found. The large panorama shows an early general view of the coast of Yalta from the Aleksandrovskaia embankment (now Lenin embankment) to the waterfront street of Bulvarnaia (now Roosevelt Street). Covering a territory of over one kilometre, the photo shows the famous resort before the 1927 Crimean earthquake and WWII destroyed most of its original architecture. The photographer managed to capture the commercial, mercantile and religious activity of the city through its buildings, as well as recreation areas, bathhouses, and cafés, only a few of which have survived to this day. Standing out from the rest of the waterfront architecture are the large buildings of the first fashionable hotels in Yalta: "Rossiia," "Tsentralnaia," "Edinbourg," and "Frantsia." Established in the 1870s through the 1880s, these hotels soon became a focal point for the visiting elite, attracting guests with luxurious accommodations similar to those of European hotels. Another important historical landmark is the first cathedral of Yalta, the Church of St. John Chrysostom, here clearly visible on Polikurovskii Hill in the last section of the photograph. Below, along the Aleksandrovskaia embankment, the panorama shows, from left to right: the "house with caryatids," a wooden café, a chapel in memory of the murdered Emperor Alexander II, bathhouses, Baron Petr Vrangel's dacha with its clock tower, Count Mordvinov's tennis park, and a local bazar. Several residential buildings are also visible nearby, on the right side of the photograph. The panorama also shows locals, dock workers, and sailors, as well as yachts, boats, steamboats, and ships, either docked or in the harbour. Signs in different languages are clearly seen on several buildings. Mikhail Mitkin was a noted local photographer and founder of one of the first photography studios in Yalta. He produced a few such panoramas of the southern coast of Crimea, and other views of Crimean cities, as well as of numerous palaces of the Russian nobility. Yalta was granted city status on September 17, 1838, a few decades after Catherine the Great incorporated the Crimean Peninsula into the Russian Empire. In the following years, under the rule of Count Mikhail Vorontsov, the city emerged as an exclusive resort for members of the Russian Royal Family. At the time of this photograph, Yalta became the scene of massive construction projects, further reinforcing the city's reputation as the leading tourist destination of the Russian Empire and a major and fashionable health resort. Provenance: Physical description:Photographic panorama (ca. 20 x 153 cm) made of 6 sections of albumen prints mounted on original card (ca. 31.5 x 162.5 cm), cloth strip to folds, photographer's signature impressed to first and last section. Original dark red full morocco with gilt-lettered title and ornaments to upper cover, blind-stamped ornament to lower cover. Condition:Binding a bit rubbed or scratched, spine extremities lightly frayed; one section slightly detached, lightly age-toned at folds, but overall in very good condition, with contrast still well marked. Bibliography:
Russian fascist printing in Shanghai --- Rare production of the Far East Russian Fascist Party, a minor Russian émigré movement based in Manchukuo during the 1930s and 1940s.: we couldn't trace any example at auction nor passing through the trade in or outside Russia. As stated at the end of the booklet, the work is meant to be based on two articles from the magazine Priamoi Put published in 1914 in Saint Petersburg with the same title (No. 1 and 5). However, the real author remains uncertain, and researchers have put forth various possibilities. One of them, together with the publishers, suggests that the book was written by Nadezhda Butmi, "a great and authentic Russian patriot" (p. 52). She was related to Georgii Butmi (wife or sister), a political activist, economist, publicist, and a board member of The Union of the Russian People, a loyalist far-right nationalist political party. Nadezhda and Georgii would have translated a French manuscript, which later emerged as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - one of the most famous anti-semitic hoaxes. In 1914, two anti-Semitic and anti-Masonic books were published under her name: "Kabbalah, Heresies, and Secret Societies" and "The Dogma of Blood". However, Sigmund Livingston, in his book "Must Men Hate?" (1944), mentioned that Butmi's wife's name was Nadezhda Vasilievna and not N.A. as initials of this book. Another version proposes that these books were actually authored by Mikhail Skariatin (1883-1963), a colonel in the imperial army, Kabbalah researcher, occultist, and Egyptologist. Skariatin held the belief that the execution of the royal family was a ritual murder. Another name is sometimes suggested as the author: the journalist and ethographer Nikolai Reikhelt (1864-after 1913). The lower cover shows ads from the same publisher, especially the 'February book' in the same series, on the Beilis affair (also present in Nizoff's collection, our item numb. 2430). Provenance: Avenir Alexandrovich Nizoff (a pianist who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature, with a strong representation of émigré works). Physical description:Octavo (19.2 x 13.5 cm). 52 pp. incl. title. Publisher's printed wrappers with original stapling. Condition:Wrappers a bit worn, red stains to upper cover, spine ends chipped, some closed tears, light discolouration; very good condition internally, the odd pencil underlining. Bibliography:
Mapping Russia's history and development for an international audience --- A scarce St.-Petersburg imprint of large format, with many interesting aspects, including an early cartographic representation of the development of the Russian empire: a large, double-page map showing the "progressive conquest of Siberia", up to the Alaska and detailing the northern coast of Russia. The rather luxuriously printed publication intends, in a very didactic way, to familiarise European readers with the history, geography, population, structure and economy of a country that had always seemed to have been a mystery to foreigners. After a brief history of the Russian Empire covering the period from 862, the work shows a genealogical table of the ruling dynasties. In the present example, the letterpressed Romanov's dynasty tree, ending with the name Alexander II, is expanded with manuscript notes of a 19th century reader, who updated it with the names of the spouse of Alexander II and their children. The large double-page tables and maps include a wealth of information on Russian geography, flora, fauna, trade, peoples etc. Of special note are the insets on the Don Cossacks, Georgia, Caucasus and the American colonies. Unusually the work includes a bibliography, mentioning a majority of books in Russian. Uncommon: only one example in the USA (Ohio) according to WorldCat, which lists 11 copies overall. Provenance: Physical description:Folio (50.5 x 37 cm). Title, [3] pp. incl. preface, bibliography and subscribers' list, 16 double page text tables, incl. a hand coloured genealogical table and 3 hand coloured engraved maps. Contemporary half straight-grained green morocco over marbled boards, straight-grained green morocco label to upper cover lettered in gilt. Condition:Binding minimally rubbed otherwise a fine example. Bibliography:Brunet V, 1437; Cat. Russica W-394.
Celebrated poetical tamizdat --- First edition of one of Akhmatova's most famous works. One of 500 copies only. Written between 1935 and 1940, 'Requiem' was not published in Russia until 1987. Two personal dramas in particular - the arrest and imprisonment of her son for 18 years and of her husband, who would finally die in a camp - inspired the specific content of the work, a sequence of poetry and prose portraying some of the full-fledged horrors endured by Soviet citizens who were wrongly imprisoned, as well as the anguish of their relatives, especially the mothers and wives, those women with whom Akhmatova stood in line outside the prison walls. While Isaiah Berlin had predicted in 1946 that 'Requiem' would never be published in the Soviet Union, it was memorised by the author and a few close friends for fear that writing them down would jeopardise their lives. As stipulated by the publisher, the present edition was received "from Russia and published without the consent of the author", three years before her death. Emblematic denunciation of Stalinist repression and consecutive sufferings, 'Requiem' is considered by many to be Akhmatova's finest work. Provenance: 'BP' (initials in Cyrillic to upper fly-leaf - similar to Boris Pasternak but not him!). Physical description:Small octavo (19.2 x 14.2 cm). 23 pp., including first blank, title and a full-page portrait of Akhmatova after Sorine. Publisher's wrappers. Condition:Wrappers a bit discoloured, lower cover stained; in fine condition internally. Bibliography:
Chinese tea in Pushkin's Russia --- Very rare commercial broadside advertising, in German and with 'Asian' illustrations, Chinese teas offered in the Russian capital during its "Golden Age", when Pushkin and Gogol were stars of literary gatherings, where such teas were elegantly served. The large (> 50 cm) sheet presents a variety of Chinese teas offered in March 1843 at Gregorii Marinin's two shops, both located on the main street of Saint Petersburg, the celebrated Nevskii prospekt - one being in a prime location, opposite the Kazan cathedral and "next to the sugar and coffee shop" clarifies the text. The poster features 21 kinds of green and black teas listed along with corresponding prices in silver roubles and assignation roubles, both of which were in circulation at the time. They can come in various colourful silk packaging, already prepared in China. As a valuable commodity, tea was sold by weight. A pound (app. 0,4 kg) of a premium grade tea is offered for 15 silver roubles - a price inaccessible for the vast majority of Russians of the time: a monthly salary of a low rank bureaucrat in the 1830s was around 20 roubles. Chinese tea was reserved for the middle and upper classes, while the majority of Russians had to make their own variations of this hot beverage, mostly from the local herbs and dried carrot leaves. The price list is interestingly illustrated with a number of simple but lovely woodcuts featuring scenes with Asian military men and aristocracy. Curiously, many illustrations here, probably copied from travel books of the time, show, in fact, characters from Japan rather than from China. Most of the tea imported into Russia was brought by land from China via Kiakhta and Siberia. Because of the relative geographical proximity of the two Empires, tea in Russia was cheaper than in Europe or America. Since the beginning of the 18th century, this hot beverage was steadily gaining popularity among Russians, and by the 1790s Russia was importing around 600 tons of tea annually; by the 1830s this number grew up to 2300 tons, constituting 4% of all Russia's imports. Being in German, this broadside was aimed at the important German-speaking community of St. Petersburg. In the 1860s the German population there exceeded 50,000 people, with a high concentration of State officials, scientists and professors all relatively wealthy and potential customers of Marinin. The merchant also offers shipping within the empire "mit der grössten Pünktlichkeit" ["with the greatest punctuality"]. This fragile broadside, printed on thin paper, is very rare: we could not trace any other examples in WorldCat or on the market. We could not find much on Marinin either, except another, earlier witness of his efforts to reach the city's German community: a 1837 price list and advertisement in St. Petersburg's largest German-language newspaper, the St. Peterburger Zeitung. Provenance: Physical description:Broadside (53.5 x 41.5 cm), text in German, multiple woodcut illustrations. Condition:Central horizontal fold, minor marginal restorations, a few creases, light foxing in places; in appealing condition considering the fragile paper, which hasn't been laid down. Bibliography:Cf. St. Petersburgische Zeitung für das Jahr 1837, p. 213 (online).
Rare and beautiful --- Extremely rare fables printed in St. Petersburg during Pushkin's heyday - the French ambassador's copy, beautifully bound: Prosper de Barante (1782-1866) was a prominent man of letters and historian, as well as a diplomat who became ambassador to St Petersburg in 1835, the exact year of publication of these fables. We could not find any other copy, in libraries like on the market or at auction. Most probably living in Russia under the relatively rigid reign of Nicholas I, the anonymous but apparently aristocratic author takes the opportunity of his fables to express political views in line with both the French and the Russian governments of the time: "Je veux qu'on sache que, très peu partisan des nouvelles doctrines, c. à d. de celles qui datent du dix-huitième siècle, en ce qu'elles s'appuient sur l'incrédulité et sur le dégoutant libéralisme, j'honore de coeur la religion, j'admets fermement ce qu'elle enseigne, et je la regarde comme seule base solide et inébranlable de toute espèce d'édifice social. L'obéissance aux puissances de la terre, qui est indispensable pour la tranquillité et le bonheur des peuples." (preface, pp. xviii-xix). Responding to the overthrow of Charles X in 1830 and the frequent revolts in France, the author mourns the lack of obedience and derides "le bourgeois de Paris avec son uniforme de garde-national" (preface, p. xx). This expression of conservative, religious views fits well with the cathedral binding, based on traditional Christian architecture, the block showing gothic fenestration and the spine tooled with quatrefoils. The fine and rich binding is anonymous, possibly Russian but probably French. Provenance: Bibliotheque de M de Barante (shelf labels to upper and lower pastedowns) - one of the largest private collections in France, built up during more than three centuries by successive generations of the Brugieres family, located at the Château de Barante in France. Physical description:Octavo (21.5 x 14.4 cm). XXII incl. half title and title, 230 pp. and [5] ll. t.o.c and errata. Full contemporary green morocco 'à la cathédrale', central block in blind to covers within gilt frames with corner fleurons, gilt rollwork to turn-ins, green endpapers, all edges gilt, yellow and red silk bookmark. Condition:Binding a bit rubbed or scratched, spine lightly discoloured; some foxing throughout, pp. 223-230 (ie. quire 15) in duplicate; an attractive example. Bibliography:Not in Cat. Russica.
A luxurious gift to the local church --- An object of devotion and luxury: impressive metallic binding with rich ornaments, most likely made in Western Ukraine, which had just become Russian. A fine example, in great condition without restoration and with detailed contemporary provenance. An unusually long hand-written inscription running along the bottom margin of more than 15 pages at the beginning of the book give us much information about its provenance: the luxurious object was donated to a St Nicholas church by Ioan Vetvetskii and his wife Anna, for the remission of sins and in commemoration of their deceased son, Nicholas, in 1796. Vetvetskii mentions in this inscription the small town of Khalaimgorodok (modern-day Horodkivka, Ukraine), located near Berdychiv to the south-west of Kyiv; this territory was ceded to Russia just four years before the inscription, during the Second Partition of Poland (1792), which was followed by the third and final one in 1795. The Vetvetskiis' donation must have been prominent: delicately decorated bindings such as this one were "created by order of sovereigns, major figures of the Church and representatives of the highest aristocracy, as only they could afford it" (Aksenova, our translation here and elsewhere). An object of veneration akin to the holy cross and icons, such a Naprestolnoe Evangelie ('Gospels for the Church Altar') was taken by the clergy for readings during services, and otherwise remained on the altar at all times: this can be witnessed by the slight soiling and fading of the silver on the spine and upper board of this copy. This binding, apparently unsigned and without any hallmark, is a striking example of 18th-c. craftsmanship from the Russian Empire. The upper board boasts five hand-painted porcelain enamel (finift) medallions depicting the Resurrection of Christ and the Four Evangelists. Nicely preserved with their fresh original colours, the medallions were inspired by both Western baroque and mediaeval imagery; the latter is evident in the amusingly stylised depictions of bestial symbols of the Evangelists. The arrangement of the Evangelists, from top left clockwise Matthew, Mark, John, Luke is less common than the usual order in Russian bindings, with "John, who traditionally is always located in the upper left corner, Matthew, Mark, and Luke" (Makarova); it is in a way closer to the arrangement found in Ukrainian bindings: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John (Arendar). Each medallion here is placed within an oval and then rectangular floral frames as parts of a larger intricate composition all along the edges of the upper board. The symmetrical and well-balanced ornaments are reminiscent of classicism which became popular in Russia from the third quarter of the 18th century, yet the influences of baroque art are still dominant. The Resurrection is held within a large monstrance filled with cherubs Catholic decorative elements that Christian Orthodox art acquired in the late 18th century. The so-called kanfarka, or a matte granular surface, softens the backgrounds and allows the decorative elements to come forward. The binding additionally stands out for its elaborate and dynamic high relief composition of the lower board: "the lower covers of Gospel bindings, with few exceptions, had no imagery in Russian religious tradition" (Krushelnitskaia), and "[as opposed to Ukrainians, many] Russian masters [.] left the lower board, spine, and clasps unadorned" (Arendar, quoted by Pavlova). In the centre, Virgin Mary holds the infant Jesus in a sumptuous temple with four columns; above them soars the Holy Spirit as a bird facing down. God the Father, here inscribed as "G[ospo]d Savaov", appears from the clouds over the temple, with two angels on either side. At the lower tier are six prophets: king Solomon as a crowned young man, Aaron, Moses, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and King David, also with a crown. They hold scrolls inscribed with their names in a peculiar, almost naive style: arranged in uneven rows of small dots. Some of the inscriptions spell several words in an unusual, if not erroneous way, such as "prophet" ("prarok" instead of "prorok") and "Davyt" instead of "David". It might be that the engraver of these inscriptions wrote them 'by ear'. Traditionally, a Christian Orthodox iconostasis would show the prophets placed in a long row on either side of Virgin Mary and Jesus, representing the transition of the Church from Moses to Christ. Here the prophets are lined underneath, possibly because of the compositional restrictions of the vertical board; some of them are pointing at Jesus, and some are facing the viewer. The whole composition is placed in an intricate frame, with four protective 'legs' (zhukoviny) incorporated in the frame and rendered as flowers. The spine is also nicely ornate, with images of walls of Jerusalem, cross with a serpent, winged cherubs, chalice, tablets, candles and an uncommon depiction of the sun, moon and star shining over a lamb (?) with a gonfalon. Strongly inspired by Western Catholic and baroque art, the binding was most likely created in Western Ukraine, where the owner inscribed and donated the Moscow-printed book to St Nicholas church. The Gospels themselves were produced by order of Catherine the Great at the Moscow Synodal Printing House, "the main centre for the production of Cyrillic printed books" at that time (Vasilieva). Originally printed in 1766, this luxurious, large-format edition was republished with slight changes multiple times up until the early 19th century. Pages are illustrated with nice floral frames, joined by four headpieces showing annunciation, nativity, epiphany (baptism) and resurrection, and four engraved baroque frontispiece plates at the start of each Gospel. All plates are dated 1766 and credit their authors: engraver Vasilii Ikonnikov after the drawing of student Petr Popov (St Matthew), student Semen Nazarov after student Petr Popov (St Mark), student Aleksei Andreev
Extensive ethnography of the peoples of the Caucasus --- First edition of this unusual work on the ethnography and culture of the peoples of Caucasus and Central Asia. An important scientific text richly illustrated; an attractive, fresh example. Count Eugen [Jen ] Zichy (18371906) belonged to a celebrated noble Hungarian family. Having inherited his father Edmund's wealth and notable collections, he passionately dedicated all his free time to historical research. He was especially interested in the origins of his nation. Since one of the old tribes in the Caucasus was called Zikhi, Eugène was convinced that the roots of his family were to be found in that region. He organised at his own expense three scientific expeditions to Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus to find evidence supporting his theory. The expeditions included respected scholars that undertook ethnographical and cultural survey of the visited territories. In recognition of Zichy's contributions to science he was made an Honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1899. The present work, which Zichy dedicated to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, contains findings of the first two expeditions undertaken in 189596, and the analysis of a large collection of artefacts, which Zichy donated to the National Museum of Hungary. The first volume, due to Dr. Janko from the National Museum, focuses on the variety of the population of the Caucasus and a bit Central Asia. He summarises the physical characteristics as well as all aspects of the local way of life and traditions. In a second part Janko details in great length Count Zichy's ethnographical collection, which also covers Central Asian regions such as Samarkand and Bukhara. The peoples studied are wide-ranging and include, among others, several Turkish peoples, all Georgian ethnic groups, Chechens, Jews etc. Janko's introduction lists a good bibliography on the subject. The second volume is written by Dr. Posta, also from the Museum, and is devoted to the archaeological findings in the Caucasus. It describes Zichy's artefacts and elaborates on the history of the local peoples. Both volumes are richly illustrated to show the various peoples, their costumes, everyday objects such as carpets, swords and horse accessories, dwellings and tools, historical buildings, jewelry and archaeological findings. A luxury production of the Hungarian presses, here in a choice example bound in red morocco. Provenance: Assay Office Library, Birmingham (small stamp to upper fly-leaves). Physical description:Two volumes 4to (30.7 x 24.2 cm). Title in French (with half-title in French and Hungarian to recto), title in Hungarian, illustrated dedication leaf, index leaf, L pp. incl. introduction title, blank leaf, 322 pp. incl. part title, with CXXI plates on 111 leaves; titles as in vol.1, pp. [325]-613 pp. incl. part title, colophon leaf, with XXVIII pl. -- in all 139 plates and many illustrations in text, including many photographic reproductions, some plates folding, text in parallel Hungarian and French. Original publisher's wrappers printed on card bound at end in contemporary half crushed red morocco over pebble-grained red cloth, spines with raised bands lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. Condition:Binding very minimally marked, wrappers and one or two leaves a bit soiled, otherwise in excellent, fresh condition. Bibliography:
More than 120 full-page watercolours for some great edifying stories --- An extensive manuscript of moral and religious, often unconventional stories about afterlife miracles and interactions with the dead, impressive for the sheer quantity of full-page watercolours - and the very limited text, often being just two lines per page to briefly comment the illustration opposite. Initially intended as a guidance for commemorating the deceased during divine services, such works are known in Orthodox Christianity as 'Sinodiks', which in the late 17th century gradually evolved to compendiums of texts concerning the afterlife, such as the significance of remembering the dead, the virtues of repentance, and the fleeting nature of worldly pursuits. The content of these collections was determined by their compilers, who most of the time chose extracts from the Old and New Testaments, lives of saints, and instructive words of Basil the Great, John Chrysostom and other church fathers. Such compilations were created by Old Believers to pass on the main dogmas and principles of their beliefs in a compact and accessible form to the next generations: "First, it instilled moral values in young people and emphasised the importance of faith. And secondly, it fostered a deep connection with ancient Russia" (Medvedeva, our translation). This manuscript opens with the depiction of Genesis, extending to the account of Cain and Abel. It then presents a parable illustrating the afterlife trials of both a righteous and a sinful man, alongside the impact of prayers offered by a priest for the departed soul. Additionally, it explains the fate of the human body and soul on the third, ninth, and fortieth day after death. This particular section, detailing the traditional commemorative days in Orthodox Christianity, draws from the Synaxarion, a compilation of short stories about feasts and saints, and now could be read in liturgies during Meat Saturday, a day dedicated to honouring deceased parents, just over a week before Great Lent. Special emphasis is placed on the theme of charity, as seen on leaf 29 which portrays the noble deeds of Basil of Caesarea (Basil the Great), and on leaf 31 referencing Psalm 40, "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Other watercolours typically illustrate longer narratives, often unconventional and little known to traditional Orthodox Christianity: one notable story involves depictions of Christ among beggars, even disguising himself as one. Eventually Christ reveals his crucifixion wounds to a doubting man, leading one of the beggars in his company to witness an image of the crucifixion; this person then brings the icon to the church, where it begins to levitate (leaves 33-49). The following illustrations also portray a peculiar tale of a man who one day discovers two dead bodies that miraculously appeared in his home and whose burial Basil of Caesarea later organised. Another story, purportedly recorded by Anastasius of Antioch and depicted on leaves 62-78, recounts the life of a pious man who gave away his possessions to the poor, asked his friend to sell him into slavery, and to distribute the proceeds among beggars. While enslaved, he was seduced by his master's wife and immediately felt ashamed. Determined to punish himself and cleanse his soul, he began beating his head against the wall, startling the seductress to death. Falsely accused of murder, he was imprisoned until the woman revived and confessed her wrongdoing. The man was then released and was given all the property of his master who renounced worldly pursuits and went to the Nitrian mountain, while his wife became a nun. The slave eventually settled in Caesarea and lived there inconspicuously until his death at 99; when he died, a fragrance from his body filled the city. The next leaves 79-108 show an amusing and uncommon portrayal of the mid-15th century Tale of Posadnik Shchil, a Novgorod money lender who became rich and decided to build a church. He received the blessing of the Archbishop, who soon realised that it was a mistake as Shchil was a sinner. Upon Shchil's return to seek consecration for the new church, the Archbishop ordered him to lie in a coffin in the church and undergo a funeral service, during which Shchil died, and his coffin fell into the abyss. The Archbishop then commissioned icon artists to depict Shchil's descent into hell on the walls of the church which was sealed and left unconsecrated. Meanwhile, Shchil's repentant son devoted himself to fasting, vigil, and performing liturgies for 40 days. After this period, an archdeacon visited the church and noticed a miraculous change: Shchil's image on the wall began to ascend from hell, initially revealing his head, and in 40 more days his upper body. Following additional 40 days of prayer, Shchil's image emerged entirely from hell, and his coffin rose from the abyss, signifying the absolution of his sins. The archbishop then performed the funeral service for him and consecrated the church. Unlike most other manuscripts, the current work 'doubles' the miracle by introducing the element of painting Shchil on the wall within the narrative, thereby making the depiction even more fantastical. No less fascinating is the following Tale of a Sinful Mother (leaves 109-125), originally a Byzantine spiritual story attributed to Paul, Bishop of Monemvasia in the second half of the 10th century. After the death of his prodigal mother, a young devout Christian distributed all her wealth to the poor; hoping that she would be spared the torments of hell, he followed the advice of a hermit elder to stand and pray for seven days in a circle drawn by his staff. On the seventh day he saw a reeking swamp where his mother was among other sinners. With his right hand, he pulled her out by the hair and guided her to a clear water font, where she was cleansed of her sins and granted forgiveness. After the miracle, the man's right hand, tainted by the swamp's filth, began
Probably the first such work on the subject in Russia and the USSR --- Impressively wide-ranging study by one of the founders of sexopathology in Russia; this being the first such work we could trace. We couldn't find much previous writings on sexopathology in Russian at all, most being a handful of 20th-c. works on sexual biology, behaviour and culture. V. M. Tarnovskii published some more focused (or limited) books sexual diseases in the 1870-90s., as did Iakobzon himself before his Disorders. Extremely rare: we could not find any other copy of this first edition. OCLC shows no results for any edition of this work; apparently no copy in the Wellcome Collection nor in the National Library of Medicine (USA), which only owns Iakobzon's early Latin dictionary. Moreover, the State Library (Moscow) only has a copy of the 2nd edition, and the National Library (St Petersburg) only of the 3rd (indicated as such on titles and wrappers). We could not trace any copy at auction either, including in Russia. Liudvig Iakovlevich Iakobzon (1873-1943), a Russian physician of Jewish descent, conducted research on the prevention of venereal diseases, sexual disorders and sexual abstinence when it was practically a terra incognita in Russia. He created and edited articles for the successful Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, and in the 1920-30s organised and supervised counselling on sexual disorders in Leningrad hospitals; he died in 1943 in besieged Leningrad. Iakobzon aimed his Sexual disorders in Men both at specialists and the general public. The 'comprehensive work consolidates a diverse array of crucial subjects in a compact volume: "brief physiology of the male genital organs" (including sub-chapters on erection, orgasm, effects of sexual intercourse on the body, and influences of the nervous system on erection and ejaculation), "causes of sexual disorders" (gonorrhoea, onanism, interrupted intercourse, sexual excesses, sexual abstinence, sexual neurasthenia, diseases of the nervous system), pathological anatomy, its diagnosis and treatment (electrotherapy, massage and local treatment), "sexual impotence and marriage", male infertility (azoospermia, oligospermia, asthenospermia, necrospermia), "sexual perversions" (autoeroticism, "erotic symbolism", "pluralism" and homosexuality), with methods of their diagnosis and treatment. Very impressive for its multi-sided and nuanced approach, Iakobzon's work not only references many writers (incl. Sacher-Masoch) and several other scholars (such as Albert Ludwig Sigesmund Neisser, Auguste Ambroise Tardieu and Sigmund Freud), but also contains remarks about the Talmud, plays of Aristophanes, Greek art, and homosexual practices in Russian prisons and baths in the late 19th century. Iakobzon summarises and considers many points of views, and includes figures and statistics. The 3000 copies of this first edition of Sexual disorders in Men sold out within the first three months (Iakobzon, introduction to the second edition); the second edition was published the same year, and a third followed in 1928. In the 1930s, sexological research was curtailed in Russia, and resumed only in the 1970s, which may have well caused confiscation and destruction of such publications. The wrappers list other works by the same author, mostly on the same subject but of limited scope, including works to be published (on women too); and a short, specialised catalogue by the same publisher. Provenance: Gift inscription in Russian to title; Avenir Alexandrovich Nizoff (a pianist who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, émigré, literature and history). Physical description:Octavo (18 x 13.3 cm). 162 incl. title, and [2] pp. table of contents. Original publisher's printed wrappers. Condition:Wrappers a bit discoloured and stained, spine glued back, spine foot restored; light marginal waterstain to first leaves, a couple of pencil annotations, one leaf a bit frayed at edge, the odd minor spot, otherwise fresh internally. Bibliography:"Iakobzon, Liudvig Iakovlevich", Evreiskaia entsiklopediia Brokgauza i Efrona, T. 16.
Russia in the 16th century Russia - with the three maps --- A tall copy with wide margins of this compilation containing the first detailed eyewitness ethnography of Russia: "the most important historical and ethnographical work on early 16th c. Russia" (Dr Rima Greenhill, Stanford University), a country largely unknown to Europeans at that time. With contemporary provenance: from a major aristocratic French library, built over several generations, mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries, to reach more than 40,000 volumes. Many are now part of various French public libraries, including the Bibliothèque nationale. Herberstein (1486-1566), an Austrian diplomat who was twice sent to Russia as the Habsburg ambassador to Moscow in 1517 and 1526, was the first foreign visitor to speak the language, read Cyrillic and record his experiences. The book was so warmly welcomed among the courts in Europe that "from its original publication in 1549, it became a veritable 'Baedeker' of travel narratives. [Herberstein] can be said to be almost singlehandedly responsible for the European image of Russia over several centuries" (Dr Rima Greenhill, Stanford University). Herberstein's work was considered of such value that for many decades to come, travellers to Russia were strongly advised to read it before travelling, as was the case with the English poet George Turberville. "In one of his letters from Russia during the mission of 1568-69, headed by Thomas Randolph, Turberville advised his friends never to venture to this barbarous land and, to stress his point, referred them to Herberstein's Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii: "To Sigismundus' book repair, who all the truth can tell." To the present day no serious study of Muscovy can be undertaken without reading Herberstein." This 1600 edition is largely based on the 1556 Basel edition, which displayed significant changes in quality of content and of illustrations from the previous ones. It incorporates an important and useful illustration: three fine maps, along with elaborate woodcuts showing the Grand Duke (Tsar Vasilii III), Muscovites, bisons, aurochs etc. The map of Moscow is the first printed plan of the city, probably drawn by Herberstein himself, who was not a cartographer but here reveals a commendable talent as a draughtsman. This woodcut became very famous, in particular through the use by Braun & Hogenberg. This edition includes a number of other works describing the Grand Duchy of Moscovy, including Paulo Giovio's De Legatione Basilii magni Principis Moschoviae ad Clementem VII; Tilmann Bredenbach's Historia belli Livonici; Paul Oderborn's scarce Ionannis Basilidis magni Moscoviae ducis vita; and Reinhold Heidenstein's De Bello Moschovitico commentarium. Provenance: Bigot de la Turgère (arms to spine); Lyon Jesuit stamp to title. Physical description:Folio (35.5 x 22.5 cm). Letterpress title with woodcut printer's device, [11] ll. preliminaries incl. a full page woodcut of Tsar Vasilii III with text to verso, 445 pp. incl. two genealogical tables, the last one folding, and [28] ll. index with one full-page armorial woodcut, with 3 double-page woocut maps and 5 full-page woodcuts in text, ornamented head pieces and multi-line initials. Contemporary brown calf, gilt fillets to covers, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering to a compartments, gilt coat of arms to others, red edges. Condition:Binding rubbed and scratched, joints anciently repaired and this repair now lifting, top of spine also anciently repaired with small part of gilding missing; some browning throughout, sometimes stronger, incl. on one of the maps, light marginal waterstain to a few leaves, minor small marginal worming to a few leaves towards end, repaired. Bibliography:Adelung 9 (with an incomplete list of "these valuable collections"); VD 16, M 1038 (under Marne); Ulianinskii 3977 (with list of works included and approximate collation); for Bigot: Guigard, Armorial du Bibliophile, pp. 95 ff.
Reforming the laws of the empire --- Beautifully fresh example of this important work of constitutional law and history. Extremely rare: we could trace only one copy of this French issue of the first edition, at the Göttingen State and University Library (Worldcat) - no copy in the US, and none passing through the market This is the founding document of a long process of juridical reform that culminated in the first systematic codification of Russian laws since the 17th century. It lays out the methodology of Tsar Alexander I's Commission on Laws as it embarked on plans to compile a new law code for the Russian Empire. Such plans had first got underway during the reign of Catherine the Great, but little of substance was achieved and the existing commission was eventually disbanded. It was revived in 1796 under her son Paul I, but although the great urgency of rationalising and clarifying the legal system was widely recognised (the last code of laws had been completed in 1649), the new body quickly ran into many of the same problems as its predecessor, namely bureaucracy and the hugely complicated nature of the project. Next in turn was Alexander I. Soon after coming to power in 1801, he decreed the formation of a new Commission of Laws (the 10th). In October 1803, after a slow start, responsibility for creating the new legal code passed to the Ministry of Justice, and the Commission then came under the direction of Minister, Nikolai Novosiltsev and his deputy Prince Lopukhin. The new body immediately set to work "collecting the best information on [compiling a code of laws] and duly weighing and considering all the circumstances connected with it" (our translation). The present work is the report of their findings. "This report is divided into two parts. The first presents an historical account of the Commission and of its proceedings to the present times; the second explains the most promising means of ensuring success in the compilation of a Russian code of laws" (translation from the contemporaneous English edition]. Four fold-out tables follow the text, setting out in detail the proposed structure of the new legal system. The first deals with private law, the second with penal law, the third with legal procedure, and the fourth with common law. The report is referred to on the title page as the "First Part", but it is complete in and of itself, and there do not appear to have been any others issued. As announced on the title page, it was published in various languages, namely English, German, Latin, Russian and Polish all equally rare. Under the chairmanship of Baron Rozenkampf, Alexander's Commission initially showed no greater efficiency than its predecessors. However in 1808, when Mikhail Speranskii took charge, and the Commission was again reordered, some significant progress was made. The first part of the criminal code was put before the State Council in 1813, followed by all three parts of the Civil Code the following year. In recognition of the need to consolidate and make public all existing laws, a multi-volume Systematic Digest of the Current Laws of the Russian Empire was put together and published between 1815 and 1822. However, this work still did not comprise a complete record of Russian law. The Commission of Laws continued to operate until 1826, when it was reordered and renamed on the orders of the new Tsar, Nicholas I. The first full Digest of Laws was finally issued in 1830. Provenance: Physical description:Quarto (25.5 x 20.3 cm). 88 pp. incl. title, [1] p. errata, and III folding letterpress tables, tab. I being formed of two separate folding parts (ie. 4 fold-outs in total). Contemporary plain light blue wrappers ("chemise d'attente"). Condition:Wrappers with minor abrasion; rare marginal dust, the odd small spot, a couple of inobstrusive, mostly marginal contemporary ink probes, otherwise crisp and fresh in its original condition. Bibliography:
