Literature: Russian and neighbours | PY Rare Books

"For adults" as printed on the title page

Vlast Tmy [The Power of Darkness]

Sytin, Moskva, 1887. £1,100

First edition of Tolstoy's play, forbidden for the stage during some years. A very good example in contemporary binding.

Image for M. KUZMIN. Vtornik Meri. First edition, one of 100 copies. St. Petersburg, 1921. #2

"For live puppets"

KUZMIN, Mikhail Alekseevich

Vtornik Meri. Predstavlenie v trekh chastiakh dlia kukol zhivykh ili dereviannykh [Mary's Tuesday. A Spectacle in Three Parts for Live or Wooden Puppets]

Petrograd, Petropolis, 1921. £950

One of 100 numbered copies, in lovely condition: an attractive example of this diminutive edition.

Image for LA HARPE, SAINT-LAMBERT & NOROV. Poslanie k grafu Shuvalovu. First edition in Russian, uncut in original wrappers. Moscow, 1817. #2

Read to Paul I at the French Academy in Paris

LAGARP and SEN-LAMBERT [LA HARPE, Jean-François de, and Jean-François de SAINT-LAMBERT]

Poslanie Lagarpa k grafu Andreiu Petrovichu Shuvalovu, o deistviiakh selskoi prirody i o poezii opisatelnoi. S prisovokupleniem razsuzhdenii o sem rode poezii.. [La Harpe's Epistle to Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov, about the Effects of Rural Nature and about Descriptive Poetry. With the Addition of Reflections on this Kind of Poetry]

Vsevolozhskii, Moskva, 1817. £1,150

Fine example, uncut, with wrappers, and with bibliophile provenance, of this text of literary criticism written for, and dedicated to, Count Shuvalov by one of the major French writers of the time. Rare, with no copy traced on the market in recent decades (including in Russia).

Image for EVANGULOV & others. Koster. First edition, inscribed. Vladikavkaz, 1920. #2

Very rare poetry in Civil War – twice inscribed

EVANGULOV, Gerogii, G. A[STAKHOV], Liudmila BERIDZE, Riurik IVNEV, Konst. IUST, and Ivan IVANOV (artist)

Koster. Stikhi [Bonfire. Poems]

Vladikavkaz, Terkavtsentropechat, 1920. £2,250

Extremely rare provincial publication in the aftermath of the Civil War - a choice copy with the striking cover coloured and a double inscription to its artist.

Image for L. TOLSTOY. Khadzhi-Murat. First separate edition. Moscow, 1912. #2

Tolstoy's "most painful text and the most intimate"

TOLSTOY, Lev

Khadzhi-Murat [Hadji-Murad]

Riabushinskii for Posrednik, Moskva, 1912. £2,250

Likely the first separate edition of this important novella, telling the tragic story of a Caucasian leader in the midst of Russia's conquest. A very rare edition, with only one other copy located.

Image for KHLEBNIKOV & others. Bez Muz [Without Muses]. First edition. Nizhnii-Novgorod, 1918. #2

Avant-garde poetry just after the Revolution

KHLEBNIKOV, Velimir, R. IVNEV, S. SPASSKIY and others

Bez Muz: khudozhestvennoe periodicheskoe izdanie [Without Muses: Literary Magazine]

Nizhnii Novgorod, Krasnoe Znamia, [June] 1918. £850

Large-format poetry collection published in Nizhnii-Novgorod and including a first appearance of Khlebnikov, together with many avant-gardist poets. Very rare outside Russia.

Pushkin in the library of a poet-collector

[PUSHKIN]

Albom Pushkinskoi Vystavki [Album of the Pushkin Exhibition]

K.A. Fisher, Moskva, 1899. £850

A relatively large-format publication with hundreds of illustrations showing Pushkin's creations, personality, friends, contemporaries, as well as later interpretations. From N. Turoverov's collection, an important Cossack officer, poet and collector.

Image for [RUSSIAN POETRY IN TRANSLATION]. Nachbildungen Russischer Originale. First edition thus, inscribed. Berlin, 1905. #2

Poems inscribed to Pushkin's granddaughter

V. W. [ie. Wilhelm van der VILET]

Nachbildungen Russischer Originale

Bernstein, Berlin, 1905. £975

Imperial copy of this scarce anthology of Russian poems in a German translation, inscribed to a Grand Duchess of Russia and granddaughter of Russia's greatest poet. Acquired from the Grand Duke's descent.

Image for SHAKESPEARE & GRIGORIEV. Sheilok [The Merchant of Venice]. First edition of this translation. St. Petersburg, 1860. #2

Praised for its quality

SHEKSPIR [William SHAKESPEARE] and Apollon GRIGORIEV (translator)

Sheilok, Venetsianskii zhid [Shylock, The Merchant of Venice [or in this case] The Jew of Venice]

F. Stellovskii, Skt. Peterburg, 1860. £1,950

Very rare translation into Russian of Shakespeare 'Merchant of Venice'. An appealing example.

Image for PUSHKIN & VASNETSOV. Pesn o Veshchem Olege. Moskva, 1914. #2

In the larger and rarer format

VASNETSOV, Viktor (artist) and Aleksandr PUSHKIN

Pesn o Veshchem Olege [The Song of Wise Oleg]

Levenson, Moskva, [1914]. £2,950

A famous work, here in the unusual large, folio format, rarer than the first edition (which was a quarto).

Image for BYRON & KOZLOV. Nevesta Abidosskaia [The Bride of Abydos]. First edition in Russian verse, Skt. Peterburg, 1826. #2

Byron's Turkish poem in Pushkin's Russia

[BYRON, George Gordon] Dzh.-G. BAIRON and Ivan KOZLOV (transl.)

Nevesta Abidosskaia. Turetskaia povest [The Bride of Abydos. A Turkish Story]

Smirdin, Skt Peterburg, 1826. £4,750

Very attractive copy of this rare work, the first translation in verse of Byron's 'Eastern poem'. Praised by contemporaries and influential, here retaining its original wrappers. Only 3 copies traced in WorldCat.

Image for V. SIRIN [NABOKOV]. Invitation to a Beheading. First edition, original Russian. Paris, 1938. #2

Nabokov's political fiction

SIRIN, V. [pseud. for Vladimir NABOKOV]

Priglashenie na kazn [Invitation to a Beheading]

Dom Knigi, Parizh, 1938. £1,850

First ediion of Nabokov's last Russian novel printed in Paris, a work chosen by Radio Liberty to distribute clandestinely in USSR.

Image for S. ESENIN. Radnitsa. First edition, St. Petersburg, 1916. #2

Esenin's first published book

ESENIN, Sergei Aleksandrovich

Radunitsa [Ritual for the Dead]

M.V. Averianov, Petrograd, 1916. £2,500

First edition of this important book of poetry, Esenin's first offered for sale. In the original wrappers. Scarce: no copy traced in public institutions outside Russia.

Image for EPICTETUS, Enchiridion & Apothegms. CEBES, Tabula. First Russian edition, 1759. #2

Greek Stoicism in 18th-century Russia

EPIKTIT [EPICTETUS], Kevit Fiveiskii [CEBES of Thebes] and Grigorii POLETIKA (translator)

Epiktita stoicheskago filosofa Enkhiridion i Apofoegmy i Kevita Fiveiskago Kartina ili Izobrazhenie zhitiia chelovecheskago [Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher's Enchiridion and Apothegms; and The Picture, or a Representation of the Life of Man, by Cebes of Thebes]

Sanktpeterburg, Imp. Akad. nauk, 1759. £4,350

An important edition: the first of Epictetus and Cebes in Russia, and one of the first translations of Greek into Russian. Very rare: no copy traced outside Russia.

Image for POUCHKINE. Ruslan et Ludmila, première édition en vers, avec envoi, Paris, 1898. #2

Inscribed by the translator, a feminist character

[PUSHKIN] – Alexandre POUCHKINE, Véra STARKOFF (transl.) and Marie EGOROFF (artist)

Rouslane et Ludmile

Lafoyer, Vannes, for Librairie de l'art indépendant, Paris, 1898. £2,450

The first complete poetic French translation of Pushkin's celebrated work. Strikingly illustrated by an original Russian female artist, and this copy inscribed by the translator: a politically-engaged playwright and one of the main figures of the feminist theatre movement in France. Rarely found, and only 500 copies printed.

Image for A. GRIBOEDOV. Gore ot Uma [Woe from Wit]. St. Petersburg, 1854. Rare small-format edition. #2

Wit in your pocket - with wrappers

GRIBOEDOV, Aleksandr

Gore ot uma. Komediia v chetyrekh deistviiakh, v stikhakh [Woe from Wit. A Comedy in Four Acts in Verse]

Tip. Shtaba Voenno-Uchebn. Zaved., Skt Peterburg, 1854. £2,500

Rare small-format edition of this famous masterpiece of Russian theatre, a lovely copy with its original wrappers. No copy traced in WorldCat.

Image for KRYLOV. Basni [Fables]. Miniature edition, St. Petersburg, 1848. #2

Fables in your pocket

KRYLOV, Ivan Andreevich

Basni [...] v deviati knigakh [Fables in IX Books]

Frantsuzskaia tip. for Iu. Iungmeister, E. Veimar, Skt Peterburg, 1848. £1,950

A 'miniature' edition, uncommon, of the most celebrated Russian fabulist: a lovely copy, in its first binding, fragile but here in appealing condition.

Image for A. REMIZOV & L. BAKST. Tsar Dodon. First edition, 1921. #2

Bakst in miniature erotica

REMIZOV, Aleksei Mikhailovich and Leon BAKST (artist)

Tsar Dodon

Obeziania velikaia volnaia palata [Alkonost, Petrograd], 1921. £1,500

Fine example of the first edition of this Russian erotica, this copy with a printed limitation statement. Rare outside Russia and in such nice condition.

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