New Arrivals

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

GERTSEN, Aleksandr Ivanovich [Alexander HERZEN].

Byloe i dumy: Pervoe polnoe izdanie [My Past and Thoughts: First complete edition].

£750

First complete edition of Herzen's main work and "great historical classic" (Sviatopolk-Mirskii). Scarce: we could not trace any example at auction in or outside Russia in recent decades. Read more

Travels & History: Russia, Siberia, Asia and Pacific

LEITSINGER, Jakob Ivanovich.

Photographic Views of Arkhangelsk and its Region.

£895

A lovely group of photographs, showing Northern indigenous peoples and local trades by one of the main photographers of the Russian North.

Anna. U samogo moria [At the Edge of the Sea]. 1921

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

AKHMATOVA, Anna.

U samogo moria [At the Edge of the Sea].

£850

Fine copy of the first edition in book form, one of 3,000 copies. This long poem, written in 1914, first appeared in the magazine Apollon in 1915, and represents a summing-up of Akhmatova's early manner.

Performing Arts: Theatre, Dance, Cinema

DIAGHILEV, Serge.

Autograph letter to "cher Directeur" [Jacques Hébertot].

£3,950

A two-page letter, beautifully signed, where Diaghilev is chasing a significant amount of money due by the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. 38,524 francs is the amount Diaghilev is expecting following a charity gala, where his Ballets Russes performed

Image for Marc Chagall & "Der Nister", A Mayse mit a Hon; Dos Tsigele, Petrograd, 1917 #1

20th century: Avant-Garde

CHAGALL, Marc (artist) and Der NISTER [pseud. for Pinchus KAHANOVICH].

A Mayse mit a Hon; Dos Tsigele [A Story About a Rooster [and] The Little Kid].

£22,500

The birth of a rich book-illustrating career: Chagall's first book, showing 9 full-page illustrations, and the only children's book to be illustrated by the great modern artist.

Children, Education, Languages

NORDSTET, Ivan.

Rossiiskii, s nemetskim i frantsuzskim perevodami, slovar. [Russian Dictionary, with German and French Translations]

£1,000

A great glance at the Russian language under Catherine the Great: more than mere translations, this thick dictionary gives German and French explanations to a wealth of Russian words and expressions.

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

MELGUNOV, Sergei.

Na putiakh k dvortsovomu perevorotu (zagovory pered revoliutsii 1917 goda) [On the Paths Towards a Palace Coup (plots ahead of the 1917 Revolution)].

£175

First edition of this historical analysis of the secret plots and intrigues swirling around the Imperial regime in the lead up to 1917.

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

AKHMATOVA, Anna.

Rekviem [Requiem].

£750

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.

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

SKITALETS [pseud. of Stepan Gavrilovich PETROV].

O znamenitykh russkikh liudiakh [On Famous Russian People].

£750

A very rare Japanese imprint. We are not aware of any other example having been on the market, and we could locate only two copies of this first edition in public institutions worldwide

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

SHALAMOV, Varlam Tikhonovich.

[Kolyma Stories] Kolymskie rasskazy.

£1,250

First edition of this important collection of stories on Soviet labour camps, which Shalamov (1907-82), a poet and man of letters on the wrong side of the Soviet authorities

Image for Aesop, Philelphus & others. Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien, Copenhagen, 1773 #1

Literature: European languages

AESOP and PHILELPHE, François, translated by Jean Baptiste Morvan de Bellegarde (abbe de Bellegarde).

Les Fables d'Esope Phrygien, avec Celles de Philelphe.

SOLD

Russian imperial example of an uncommon illustrated edition of Aesop's fables, in red morocco with Tsarina Maria Feodorovna's gilt arms. Attractively illustrated edition of Bellegarde's compilation of fables by Aesop, Philelphus, Gabrias, and Avienus, first published in Amsterdam in 1708. Read more

Literature: Russian and neighbours

PUSHKIN, Aleksandr Sergeevich, Sergey LIFAR and Prof. M. L. GOFMAN (editors).

[Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829].

£2,950

Fine copy of this private production, from the very rare issue of 50 copies only, each one bearing the printed name of the recipient, this one from the 30 copies on papier de Hollande, after 20 on Japon. Another issue was limited to 200 copies, without specific recipients... Read more

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

BULGAKOV, Mikhail.

Sobache serdtse [Heart of a dog].

SOLD

First publication in Russian of Bulgakov's suppressed satirical masterpiece, printed as the whole issue of Student magazine by Romanian exile Alex Flegon. Unpublishable in the Soviet Union until 1987, the text was circulated only in clandestine samizdat editions... Read more

Costumes, Fashion & Military

HARDING, E[dward] (publisher) [and William ALEXANDER].

Costume of the Russian Empire. Costume de l'empire russe. Illustrated by upwards of seventy richly coloured engravings. Representé en plus de soixante-dix gravures superbement colorées.

£2,500

Fine example, attractively bound. The costumes were drawn after Georgi and Mueller, the English text was written by William Alexander, after the main texts available at the time on Russia.

20th century: Dissidence & Emigre

BULGAKOV, Mikhail Afanasyevich.

Zapiski iunogo vracha; Diavoliada and Other Stories [Notes of a Young Doctor; Diaboliad and Other Stories].

£1,950

Comprising 10 stories first published in 1922-1926. The typescript partially reproduces the first and the only book by Bulgakov to be published in Russia during his lifetime.

20th century: Avant-Garde

ILYAZD [pseud. for Ilya ZDANEVICH].

Lidantiu faram [Le Dentu the Beacon].

£20,000

SUPERB EXAMPLE OF THIS 'MASTERPIECE OF THE RUSSIAN POETIC AVANT-GARDE' (Johnson 25) INSCRIBED BY ILIAZD TO ANDRE SALMON, a talented man of letters, poet and leading art critic.

Literature: European languages

DUPRÉ DE SAINT-MAURE, Jean-Pierre-Émile (editor).

Anthologie russe, suivie de poésies originales.

£2,500

Pushkin and the Golden Age of Russian poetry come to the West: the very first publication of Russia's celebrated poet in Western Europe in the first anthology of Russian poetry in French.

Literature: Russian and neighbours

DOSTOEVSKY, Fedor Mikhailovich.

Besy [The Devils, sometimes The Possessed or Demons].

£16,500

One of Dostoevsky's great novels, and the first of his books published by Dostoevsky himself. Besy captures "the full grandeur of Dostoevsky's extraordinary endeavor[]"

Russian Americana

GLADKII, S.V. and Iu.K. DVORZHITSKII (editors).

S beregov Ameriki: iubileinyi istoricheskii sbornik o-va Russkih morskih ofitserov v Amerike, 1923 – 1938. [From the Shores of America: commemorative historical compendium of the Association of former Russian naval officers in America, 1923 - 1938].

£950

The Russian Navy and the Americas: warmly inscribed by one of the authors to the first Russian submarine commander in the Pacific. "Very rare" (Savine) illustrated émigré publication, with historical folding maps featuring the arctic coast of Russia... Read more

Erotica

ZICHY, Michael von.

Liebe.

£3,950

The last edition of these celebrated erotic illustrations before the destruction of the original plates, rarer than the previous, 1911 edition. One of 300 copies "privately printed only for subscribers". Read more

Byloe i dumy: Pervoe polnoe izdanie [My Past and Thoughts: First complete edition].

Photographic Views of Arkhangelsk and its Region.