A landmark in Russian literature history: one of the most important compilations of classic Russian literature, featuring the first and life-changing publication of Dostoevsky's debut novel as well as contributions from major writers and critics such as Turgenev, Nekrasov, Belinskii, and Herzen.
![Image for S. ALEKSIEVICH. U voiny ne zhenskoe litso [The Unwomanly Face of War]. First edition, first issue, inscribed. Minsk, 1985. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3274_1-300x341.jpg)
First edition, first issue, an inscribed copy, of Aleksievich's important first book. She would go on and win the Nobel Prize of LIterature 30 years later, in 2015.
One of the great books on Moscow, this one focusing on the enormous bell in the Kremlin. A beautiful production of Parisian presses, this particular copy inscribed by the celebrated French architect who worked in Russia and, inter alia, built the St. Isaac Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
![Image for [ARMENIAN CALLIGRAPHY]. A. PALCHEAN. Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn. First edition, Vienna, 1838. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3331_1-300x211.jpg)
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.
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]
A pleasant, complete copy of this beautiful Romanian religious production, apparently the first translation in any language; with unusual, striking plates. Very rare, with no copies traced outside Romania. With feminine provenance.
![Image for [OLD BELIEVERS]. Tsvetnik [Florilegium]. Illustrated manuscript, Russian Empire, 1760s. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/3060_1-300x244.jpg)
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.
Attractive Russian children books produced in Kharbin, all three in the colour version and in fine condition.
VIGNOLA [pseud. for BAROZZI, Giacomo] and Carlo ANTONINI (engraver)
ll Vignola illustrato
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.
![Image for [BIBLE, Armenian]. Gospels. Second Bortoli edition. Venice, 1759. In a fine binding. #3](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3332_2-300x416.jpg)
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.
![Image for G. VANANDETSI. Gandz ch'ap'voy, kshrroy, t'uots' yev dramits' bolor ashkharhi. [Weights ad Measures around the World]. First edition, annotated. Amsterdam, 1699 #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3322_1-300x235.jpg)
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.
AMADUTIUS, Iohannes Christophorus [Giovanni Cristoforo AMADUZZI]
Alphabetum armenum
Fine example of this attractive Armenian alphabet for missionaries, the first edition with the lovely animal-shaped letters.
VONZBLEIN, Iu. and M. SHAMANOVA
Legkaia atletika dlia zheshchin [Athletics for Women]
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.
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.
CHEKHOV, Anton, Ivan BUNIN, Maksim GORKY and others
Sbornik Tovarishchestva "Znanie" za 1903 god [Collection of the "Knowledge" Society for the year 1903].
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.
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!
[DALI] – ARRABAL, Fernando and Julius BALTAZAR [pseud. for Hervé LAMBION] (artist)
Cinco sonetos
Excellent, unique copy of this rare livre d'artiste, warmly inscribed to Dali, with much added material and in a fine Leroux binding. "Let us suppress all the excesses / murderers tyrants and alligators" (colophon)
![Image for [P. QUESNEL]. Almanach du Diable. Manuscript copy. Ca. 1737 #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3002_1-300x386.jpg)
A lovely object, the holograph copy of a blasphemous text written by a priest and suppressed in France upon publication in the late 1730s. The Devil's Almanac!