Elaborate and rare lithographed Armenian calligraphy

PALCHEAN, Agheksandr

Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn [Beautiful Writing; ie. Calligraphy]
Vienna, Alois Leykum for Mkhit'areants', 1838. £3,950

Attractive volume showing fine Armenian calligraphy made to celebrate the new Armenian monastery in Vienna - to be built when the book was published. Very rare edition, with no copies traced in Armenia nor the Americas.

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Striking, innovative plates - a rare edition

RAFAIL, monk (engraver, translator, and editor)

Uşa pocăinţei adecă carte foarte umilitoare… [Door of Repentance. That is, a Very Humiliating and Very Useful Book for the Soul]
Ioann Fridrich Herfurt, Braşov, 1812. £3,950

A pleasant, complete copy of this beautiful Romanian religious production, with unusual, striking plates. Very rare, with no copies traced outside Romania. With feminine provenance.

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Spectacular Passion and Apocalypse - with exorcism, "Ethiopians" and Andrew the Fool

[OLD BELIEVERS]

Tsvetnik [Florilegium]
[Russian empire, 1760s]. £67,500

A stunning Church Slavonic manuscript, with a suprising wealth of striking watercolours illustrating wide-ranging religious texts, and an intersting style incorporating West-European features. Datable to the 1760s - rare.

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China-printed children books - the colour variant

ZAITSEV, M. V. [publisher]

Three Children Books: Liagushka-Tsarevna, Ivanushka i Alenushka, Baba Iaga [The Frog Princess; Ivan and Alenushka; Baba Yaga]
Kharbin, Zaitsev, [1930s]. £1,450

Attractive Russian children books produced in Kharbin, all three in the colour version and in fine condition.

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The dedicatee's copy - magnificent

VIGNOLA [pseud. for BAROZZI, Giacomo] and Carlo ANTONINI (engraver)

ll Vignola illustrato
Roma, Angelo Ajani, 1828. £4,250

Prince Gagarin's copy, in a beautful Italian binding: he was Russia's ambassador in Rome at the time and a noted patron of the arts; the edition was dedicated to him. A beautiful illustrated work of architecture.

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Armenian Gospels attractively bound

[BIBLE, Armenian]

Avetaran Tyarn Mero Hisusi Qristosi [The Gospels Of Our Lord Jesus Christ]
Venice, Antonio Bortoli, 1759. £3,750

Lovely example of these Gospels in Armenian, printed in Venice by Bortoli in 1759, with a new set of plates, and here in a richly gilt binding.

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International silk trade and Armenian prayers

VANANDETSI, Ghukas

Gandz ch'ap'voy, kshrroy, t'uots' yev dramits' bolor ashkharhi [A Treasure Trove of Measures, Weights, Numbers and Currencies from Around the World]
Tovmas Vanandetsu [Vanandetsi], Yemsterdem [Amsterdam], 1699. £5,250

Great copy of this small-format book: used by Armenian merchants around the world, including Africa, this copy replete with annotations in Armenian linked with numerology and prayers. Very rare first edition by a leading Armenian printed in Amsterdam; only a copy traced in Oxford and one in Pisa - none in the Americas.

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First with the fine woodcut animal letters

AMADUTIUS, Iohannes Christophorus [Giovanni Cristoforo AMADUZZI]

Alphabetum armenum
Propaganda fide, Romae, 1784. £1,750

Fine example of this attractive Armenian alphabet for missionaries, the first edition with the lovely animal-shaped letters.

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The beginning of Soviet female champions

VONZBLEIN, Iu. and M. SHAMANOVA

Legkaia atletika dlia zheshchin [Athletics for Women]
Fizkultura i Sport, Moskva, Skt. Peterburg, 1930. £375

Lovely booklet on Soviet female athletes, written by a 22-y old champion, the first Soviet woman to obtain international success. Very rare first edition, with no copies traced in the Americas nor Europe.

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The remarkable CIA-backed first edition of a Nobel Prize

PASTERNAK, Boris

Doktor Zhivago
G. Feltrinelli, Milan [but Mouton, The Hague], 1958. £17,500

One of the most famous first editions of 20th-c. Russian literature: published by the CIA under a false imprint - or literature as a political weapon. A pleasant copy.

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First publication of the Cherry Orchard anywhere

CHEKHOV, Anton, Ivan BUNIN, Maksim GORKY and others

Sbornik Tovarishchestva "Znanie" za 1903 god [Collection of the "Knowledge" Society for the year 1903].
Isidor Goldberg, Skt. Peterburg, 1904. £2,950

Fine example of this literary almanac, rarer with both parts of 1903, including the very first publication of Chekhov's famous play. With other first publications by leading Russian authors of the time.

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"[One of the] pioneer female travelers to Georgia" (Skinner)

KEUN, Odette

Prince Tariel: A Story of Georgia
Jonathan Cape, London, 1925. £1,750

Suppressed and very rare first edition of this novel, written by an adventurous woman travelling in troubled times. Great book by a fascinating woman and a nice copy of it!

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