Browse | PY Rare Books

The start of the Great Game

Russian Missions into the Interior of Asia

G. Sidney for Sir Richard Phillips, London, 1823. £295

Important booklet showing the British interest in new Russian 'missions' in Central Asia, with the first translation of Russian accounts of the region. A lovely copy.

Image for M. KUZMIN. Nezdeshnie vechera. First edition, limited. St. Petersburg, 1921. #2

Poetic evenings : one of 62 named copies only

KUZMIN, Mikhail

Nezdeshnie vechera. Stikhi 1914-1920 [Extraordinary Evenings. Poems from 1914-1920]

Peterburg, Petropolis, 1921. £1,250

First edition of Kuzmin's eight poetry collection. This copy particularly attractive for its condition - and its provenance: one of only 62 'ad nominem'.

Image for I.I. CHEPIGOVSKII. A Concise Sacred History of...the Old Testament. First edition in the original Ossetian. Vladikavkaz, 1881. #2

With an important inscription by the "Apostle of Ossetia" (Gostieva)

CHEPIGOVSKII, Ivan Ivanovich

Xucav arxivani Ragondini cibir sijdæg istorja [A Concise Sacred History of the Church of God under the Old Testament]

Vladikavkaz, Z.I. Shuvalov, 1881. £3,750

First edition of this very first 'old testament' in Ossetian. A fine example, in wrappers and inscribed by the author to an important local missionary. Very rare, with only one other copy traced (Denmark).

Image for N. PIROGOV. Letters from Sebastopol. First edition in original Russian. St. Petersburg, 1899. #2

A Russian doctor in the Crimean War

PIROGOV, Nikolai Ivanovich

Sevastopolskie pisma [Letters from Sebastopol]

Stasiulevich, Skt. Peterburg, 1899. £275

First edition of these Crimean War letters from a Russian surgeon.

Image for I. BOZHERIANOV. Napoleon's invasion in Russia. First edition in original Russian. St. Petersburg, 1911. #2

Russian artists' impression of Napoleon's campaign

BOZHERIANOV, Ivan Nikolaevich

Nashestvie Napoleona [Napoleon's Invasion and the Patriotic War of 1812. Album of Colour Reproductions of Paintings of Famous Artists]

Prokudin-Gorskii & Laurson, Skt. Peterburg, 1911. £1,950

First edition of this extensive artistic record of Napoleon's catastrophic Russian campaign. A fine production, with imperial provenance.

Image for A. V. KAULBARS. Most Ancient Beds of Amu Darya River, in original Russian. First edition. St. Petersburg, 1887. #2

Uzbekistan's famous river - on a 65 cm² map

KAULBARS, Aleksandr Vasilevich

Drevneishiia rusla Amu-Dari [Ancient Beds of the Amu Darya River].

Imper. Akadem. Nauk, Skt. Peterbug, 1887. £650

First edition, very rare, of this geographical and historical study of the Western part of present-day Uzbekistan. Complete with its impressive map of the region.

Image for N. GOGOL. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete Works]. Fine set. Moscow, 1873-74. #2

Finely bound and beautifully preserved

GOGOL, Nikolai

Polnoe sobranie sochinenii [Complete Works of Nikolai Gogol]

Mamontov, Moskva, 1873-74. £4,250

Gogol's main works in a splendid set, rarely found in such an attractive condition and presentation.

Our friends the English

Angliia [England]

Obshchestvennaia Polza for Rodnoe Slovo, Moskva, 1914. £450

A lovely, illustrated booklet presenting England as an ally at the beginning of WWI. First edition, in appealing condition, from a reading library with the matching label - and very rare with no copies traced worlwide.

Image for JG GEORGI. Description de toutes les nations de l'empire de Russie. First edition. French variant. St. Petersburg, 1776-77. #2

First edition of this groundbreaking work, complete

GEORGI, Johan Gottlieb

Description de toutes les nations de l'empire de Russie.

Weitrecht (part 3) et Schnoor for Charles Guillaume Muller, St. Petersbourg, 1776-7. £14,500

First edition of this fundamental work on the Russian empire and its peoples, the result of a multi-year field trip by Georgi. The first work published in Russia with plates coloured by hand. Rare complete as here.

Image for MUKHLINSKII. On Ottoman Grammar. A Selection of Turkish Articles. First edition. St. Petersburg, 1858. #2

Translating Turkish in Russia in the wake of the Crimean War

MUKHLINSKII, Anton Osipovich

Dhil Qawa'id Othmaniya. Vybor Turetskikh statei.. [On Ottoman grammar. A Selection of Turkish Articles]

Skt. Peterburg, Imp. Akad. Nauk, 1858. £1,950

Interesting and rare St. Petersburg edition on Ottoman Turkish, with impressive plates of Ottoman documents. Only 2 copies traced outside Russia.

Image for KRAFFT, H. A Travers le Turkestan russe. First edition, Paris, 1902. #2

Central Asia in beautifully subtle tones

KRAFFT, Hugues

A Travers le Turkestan Russe

Hachette et Cie, Paris, 1902. £4,000

Remarkable photographic record of nowadays Uzbekistan and neighbouring regions - a beautiful, luxury production, and a fine example of the deluxe version, in beautiful, fresh condition.

Image for [RUSSIAN ARMY] Mundiry Imperatorskoi Rossiiskoi Armii. Five manuscript sheets. St. Petersburg, 1850s. #3

In manuscript of the highest quality

[MILITARY – WATERCOLOURS]

Mundiry Imperatorskoi Rossiiskoi Armii [Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army]

[Skt. Peterburg, 1850s]. £8,500

Superb set of very rare military tables in fine manuscript and gouache with gold and silver highlights. Of probable imperial provenance.

Image for I. BRODSKII. Ostanovka v pustyne [Halt in Wilderness]. First edition, inscribed. New York, 1970. #2

Inscribed to a Jewish émigré journalist at BBC Russian

BRODSKII, Iosif [also Joseph BRODSKY]

Ostanovka v pustyne [Halt in the Wilderness; also A Stop in a Desert]

Chekhov, Niu Iork, 1970. £3,500

First edition of this important poetry collection by "the most popular Russian poet of the second half of the 20th century" (Shubinskii). A fine example of the first issue, boldly inscribed.

Image for F. DOSTOEVSKY and others. Poor Folk, in Peterburskii sbornik. First edition, in Russian. St. Petersburg, 1846. #2

Dostoevsky's successful debut in Nekrasov's famous anthology - the Fekula copy

DOSTOEVSKII, Fedor [DOSTOEVSKY], Nikolai NEKRASOV, Vissarion BELINSKII, ISKANDER [pseud. for Aleksandr HERZEN], Ivan TURGENEV, et al

Bednye liudi [in] Peterburgskii sbornik [Poor Folk; in: Petersburg Miscellany]

Skt Peterburg, Eduard Prats, 1846. £19,500

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

The Nobel Laureate's first book - inscribed

ALEKSIEVICH, Svetlana

U voiny ne zhenskoe litso [The Unwomanly Face of War]

Mastatskaia litaratura, Minsk, 1985. £6,250

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.

Image for RICARD de MONTFERRAND. Description de la grande cloche de Moscou. Inscribed copy of the first edition. Paris, 1840. #2

Fine example, inscribed

MONTFERRAND, Auguste RICARD de

Description de la grande cloche de Moscou

Paris, Thierry frères, 1840. £6,000

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

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.

Image for M. ZAITSEV. Three Russian Children Books. First editions, colour issue. Harbin, 1930s. #2

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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