Turkic, Mongolian - and Finno-Ugric languages

SCHOTT, Wilhelm

Versuch über die Tatarischen Sprachen
A.W. Hayn for Veit & Comp., Berlin, 1836. £1,250

Innovative, early study by "one of the most important linguists of the 19th century" (Walravens). Scarce, with no copy traced in recent decades; this one in very good, original condition.

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Russian history in Russian - for foreigners

KARAMZIN, Nikolai and August Wilhelm TAPPE

Russisches historisches Lesebuch... Tableau abrégé de l'Histoire de Russie... Sokrashchenie Rossiiskoi Istorii N. M. Karamzina.
N. Grech for Tappe, St. Petersburg, 1819. £875

Fine, uncut example of the first part (of 2) of this contemporary abridgement of Karamzin's masterpiece, made for students of the Russian language, with useful, didactic remarks. Scarce.

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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).

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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.

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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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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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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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Avant-garde women producing a rare children book

SINIAKOVA, M[ariia] (artist) and S[ofia] FEDORCHENKO

Dobryi son [Kind Dream/Nice Sleep]
Gos. izd., Moskva, 1930. £1,250

Very rare first edition of this children book: no copies traced outside Russia. A fine collaboration of two women active in circles of the Russian avant-garde.

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Two women at work to celebrate Mother

LIUBAVINA, Nadezhda Ivanova (artist) and Sofiia DUBNOVA

Mat [Mother]
Petrograd, Segodnia, 1918. £2,250

Fine Russian children book from the avant-garde publisher, here in the preferred version with original hand-colour: one of only 125 copies.

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Important and very rare first German edition - in contemporary vellum

LOMONOSSOW, Michael [Mikhail LOMONOSOV] and Johann Lorenz STAVENHAGEN (translator)

Russische Grammatick
Skt. Peterburg, Kaiserl. Academie der Wissenschafften, 1764. £2,950

Attractive example of this celebrated, landmark grammar of the Russian language, here in its important first German translation, and the first foreign translation overall. No copies traced at auction in the last 40 years, and only 5 in libraries (1 only in USA).

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Learning Russian between Napoleon and Pushkin

HAMONIERE, G

Grammaire russe divisée en quatre parties..
Impr. Royale for Théophile Barrois fils, Paris, 1817. £875

Fine, uncut example of the first edition if this important but scarce Russian grammar, finely printed at the Imprimerie Royale.

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Fables in silhouette

NARBUT, Egor (artist) and Ivan Andreevich KRYLOV

Tri basni Krylova [Three Fables by Krylov]
Knebel, Moskva, [1911]. £850

Three fables by the most famous Russian fabulist, here illustrated by the leading Ukrainian artist. Scarce in this attractive condition.

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Russian verses at the Swedish court - in transliteration

[SPARWENFELD, Johan Gabriel]

Placzewnaja recz na pogrebenie […] ghossudarja Karolusa odinatsetogho [Oration in Russian on the Occasion of the Death of Charles XI of Sweden]
Stokoln [Stockholm], 1697. £4,750

An extremely rare and very intriguing publication, mixing Russian language, Latin types and Swedish political agenda at the end of the 17th century - just before the wars of Peter the Great and Charles XII. Apparently no copy in Russia; this being the second or third copy traced. A fine example.

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Avant-garde children book in post-revolutionary Petrograd

TUROVA, E[katerina] (artist) and Aleksei REMIZOV

Snezhok [Snowball]
Segodnia, Petrograd, [1918]. £2,500

Fine example of this rare, fragile edition of the Russian avant-garde, in the preferred version with original hand-colouring.

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Western (and Russian!) conquests with unexpected comments

RAZIN, Aleksei

Otkrytie Ameriki, Kamchatki i Aleutskikh ostrovov: Rasskazy dlia detei [Discovery of America, Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands: Stories for Children]
Volf, Sankt. Peterburg, 1868. £2,500

Very rare and fascinating children book on the discovery of America and North Pacific, illustrated, with great comments on the conquest of America and other parts of the world. A lovely copy in original publisher's boards.

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Georgian language explained

MARR, N[ikolai]

Osnovnyia tablitsy k grammatike drevne-gruzinskago iazyka [Basic Tables for the Grammar of the Ancient Georgian Language]
Skt. Peterburg, Akad. Nauk, 1908. £1,250

First edition of this remarkable study of Georgian, published to support Marr's celebrated 'Japhetic theory'. Fresh internally with almost 30 folding tables. Rare.

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Children readings in war times

Rukavichka. Repka. Russkiia Skazki [Russian Tales: The Mitten. The Turnip]
T-vo Bessarabskoe knigoizdatelstvo, Odessa, 1919. £550

A lovely, fragile production of this short-lived publishing house from Kishinev and Odessa. Very rare as we could locate onoly two copies outside Russia. Published in 1919 - a tormented year for Odessa.

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Very rare production of a Ukrainian rotaprint

KOFF-LAIF, Rakhil Iosifovna

English penmanship. Angliiskaia kalligrafiia
Moskva, 1959, but Ukr. zaochnyi industrialn. tekhnikum, [Ukr. SSR, early 1960s]. £750

How to write English in the USSR, by a Jewish American teacher, produced in Ukraine and very rare such.

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