With falcon hunting by Peter the Great's father

BARTENEV, Petr (editor)

Sobranie pisem tsaria Alekseia Mikhailovicha.. [Collection of Letters of the Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich]
Gotie, Moskva, 1856. £1,750

First edition of about all writings of Tsar Alexey, an important Romanov and the father of Peter the Great. Includes his falcon hunting instructions, the first such Russian book. The letters touch a wide range of important political matters in pre-petrine Russia.

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Smoking in Pushkin's Russia

[TOBACCO] – ARTO, Amedei

Obiavlenie [Announcement]
Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1834. £575

Detailed price list of tobacco products offered in Moscow during Pushkin's time, showing a broad and very international range. A rare, unusual ephemera in excellent, fresh condition.

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Chinese tea in Pushkin's Russia

[GASTRONOMY]

Preis-courant neuerhaltener, ausgesuchter, bester Chinesischer Thee die zu haben sind in den Magazinen der Kaufmanns Gregorius Marinin, in St. Petersburg
[Skt. Peterburg], 1843. £2,750

Extremely rare broadside boasting "the all-best" teas from China available at a merchant's in St. Petersburg. The poster contains much interesting information and is illustrated with many Asian scenes. Very fragile but in very good condition.

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Drunk "very unhandsome" Circassian ladies and Russian mushrooms

[COLLINS, Samuel]

The Present State of Russia, in a Letter to a Friend at London, written by an eminent person residing at the great czars court at Mosco [sic] for the space of nine years
John Winter for Dorman Newman, London, 1671. £3,000

Great (if often negative) early account of pre-petrine Russia, with an important portrait of Tsar Alexei and a famous chapter on mushrooms - among many other remarks and anecdotes. Attractive example of the first edition.

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Account of 17th-c. Russia from a 'cabinet de lecture'

[COLLINS, Samuel]

Relation curieuse de l'estat present de la Russie
A Paris, chez Louis Billaine…, 1679. £2,000

Great (if often negative) early account of pre-petrine Russia, here in an unusual, uncut copy of the first French edition, from a private lending library with the label detailing its lending conditions. Includes the famous illustrated chapter on mushrooms - among many other remarks and anecdotes.

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From amber mining to sable hunting on ski

BRAND, Johann Arnold von

Reysen durch die Marck Brandenburg, Preussen, Churland, Liefland, Peßcovien, Groß-Naugardien, Tweerien und Moskovien […] anbey Eine Seltsame und sehr Anmerckliche Beschreibung von Siberien […]
Duisburg, Johannes Sas, for Jacob von Wesel, Wesel, 1702. £4,250

A very rich and overlooked 17th-c. travel account, with quantity of original material on Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Siberia, including music and songs in the vernacular, as well as many engraved plates, especially on amber mining, sable hunting on ski and Easter celebrations in Moscow. A rare Rossica.

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Hunting caricatures in colour

FRANKLAND, Robert

Eight Representations of Shooting
Cambridge, W.D. Jones, 1813. £2,500

Lovely humourous plates with original hand-colour, in a Sangorski binding.

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Optical theatre in 1830s Moscow

MISHO, Genrikh

Mekhanicheskii Teatr Sveta. Obiavlenie [Mechanical Theatre of Light. Announcement]
Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1833. £500

Rare broadside for series of entertainments in Moscow, including an optical theatre of animated figures by a versatile performer and craftsman.

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Optical theatre in 1830s Moscow

KUPARENKO, Iordakii

Kinetozograficheskie vidy. Obiavlenie [Kinetozographic Views. Announcement]
Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1834. £650

Rare broadside for an impressive Russian kinetozographic theatre of 400 animated figures in Pushkin's Moscow, by a hot-air balloon enthusiast now in the Guinness World Records.

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How to understand horses - no copy traced

SKRINNIKOV, Mikhail

Ippologiia, ili Nauka o loshadi. Chast I-II [Hippology, or The Science of the Horse. Parts I-II]
Tip. Varshavsk. voennogo okruga, Varshava [Warsaw military district press], 1866-67. £1,950

First edition of this influential Russian work on horse education and hippiatry, illustrated with 3 plates. Very rare: no copy traced on the market nor in libraries.

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Abundant imperial hunting parties in the Mountains

KALINOVSKII, A

Les chasses au Caucase. Okhoty Kavkaza
Vilborg for A. Yakovlev, Skt. Peterburg, 1900. £6,500

First edition of this impressive visual record of imperial hunting parties in the Caucasus - one of the greatest Russian hunting books, in French and Russian, conceived and produced specifically to promote the Caucasian region at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900. With 100 leaves of illustrations. A good example in the publisher's binding.

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With striking designs

SAMOKISH Nikolai (artist) and Lev Al. MEY

Izbavitel [The Saviour]
Exped. Zagotovl. Gos. Bumag, Skt. Peterburg, 1900. £1,850

A hunting poem beautifully decorated by one of the leading book illustrators of the time. Separately published from Kutepov's celebrated and monumental 'Imperial Hunt'.

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Out of stock
Gastronomical joys of the Russian military in the midst of the Boxer Uprising in China

[GASTRONOMY – RUSSIAN CHINA]

Two Menus
[Warsaw and Yingkou, 1900].

Lovely menus related to Dmitrii Oznobishin and his assigmnments in China. One menu is fully watercoloured (not printed), the other a fine chromolithograph - abundantly inscribed and signed by Oznobishin's friends and colleagues.

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Out of stock
Bilibin works for the Tsar and his dinner

BILIBIN, Ivan (artist)

Uzhin 28 Marta 1910 [Dinner on 28 March 1910]
[Skt. Peterburg, 1910].

Fine example of this very rare Russian imperial menu, drawn by one o fthe greatest illustrators and artists of the time in Russia.

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Out of stock
Half their wages into alcohol

BARSKIY, Y. A

Chi dodae sili alkogol? [Does Alcohol Give Strength?]
Kharkiv, Naukova Dumka, 1930.

Great example of Soviet health propaganda, trying to make Ukrainians more sober. Very rare.

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Out of stock
In a most unusual, remarkable artist binding

COUTÉPOFF, Nicolas [KUPEPOV, Nikolay Ivanovich]

La Chasse grand-ducale et tsarienne en Russie. Période du Xe au XVIe siècle [with] La Chasse tsarienne en Russie. XVIIe siècle
Expédition pour la confection des papiers d'état, Saint-Pétersbourg, 1896-1900.

'Tsarskaia Okhota': the greatest Russian hunting book in a spectacular and most unusual Belgian binding made of cuir repoussé, incoporating Samokish's design of a falcon with open wings. A great example of this striking luxury book.

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Out of stock
On blue paper

[TEA] – BOTKIN, Petr

Obiavlenie. Magazin sukon i kitaiskikh chaev [Announcement. Fabrics and Chinese Tea Shop].
Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1833.

Rare broadside by the pioneer of the Russian tea industry, advertising teas and fabrics from international origins, available in 1830s Pushkin's Moscow.

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Out of stock
Now extinct dogs fighting in 1830s Moscow

[BAITING DOGS]

Obiavlenie [Announcement]
Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1833.

Two consecutive illustrated Russia broadsides announcing different rounds of large wild animal baiting in Pushkin's 1830s Moscow, involving the now-extinct Medelyan dogs.

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