Visual Arts & Architecture

Spectacular Passion and Apocalypse - with exorcism, "Ethiopians" and Andrew the Fool

Tsvetnik [Florilegium]

[Russian empire, 1760s]. £67,500

A stunning Church Slavonic manuscript, with a suprising wealth of striking watercolours illustrating wide-ranging religious texts, and an intersting style incorporating West-European features. Datable to the 1760s - rare.

Image for VIGNOLA & ANTONINI. Il Vignola illustrato. Second edition, the dedicatee's copy. Rome, 1828. #2

The dedicatee's copy - magnificent

VIGNOLA [pseud. for BAROZZI, Giacomo] and Carlo ANTONINI (engraver)

ll Vignola illustrato

Roma, Angelo Ajani, 1828. £4,250

Prince Gagarin's copy, in a beautful Italian binding: he was Russia's ambassador in Rome at the time and a noted patron of the arts; the edition was dedicated to him. A beautiful illustrated work of architecture.

Image for MALINOVSKII. Istoricheskoe opisanie....oruzheiskoi palaty... First edition. Moscow, 1807. #2

One of the most impressive early illustrated Russian books

MALINOVSKII, Aleksei (editor)

Istoricheskoie opisanie drevniago rossiiskago muzeia pod nazvaniem masterskoi i oruzheiskoi palaty… [A Historical Account of the Museum of Ancient Russia known as the Workshop and Armoury Chamber. Part I (all published)]

Imp. Moskovsk. Univ., Moskva, 1807. £10,000

First edition of this important book, the first catalogue of the first Kremlin Museum. A large-format edition and one of the best early Russian illustrated books.

Image for LARMESSIN & others after MARTIN le Jeune. Four Engravings of the Great Northern War. Paris, ca. 1722. #2

Representing Russia as a European military power

LARMESSIN, Nicolas de and other engravers, after Pierre-Denis MARTIN LE JEUNE (artist)

The Great Northern War: the Complete Set of Four Engravings

[Paris, ca. 1722]. £18,500

A fine example of these celebrated large-format engravings showing Peter the Great and his victories against Sweden in the early 18th century. In attractive condition, complete with the Russian text.

Image for IVANOV. USSR Literacy poster. Petrograd, 1920. #1

"The book is the light of communism"

I[VANOV, Sergei] (artist)

Kniga nichto inoe kak chelovek govoriashchii publichno [A Book Is Nothing Else but an Individual Speaking out Loud]

Gosudarstvennoye Izdatelstvo, Peterburg [Petrograd], 1920. £1,950

A fine, large book-themed poster from the young USSR, with slogans such as "Reading is needed to know how to beat the ennemies of the working class". In superb condition.

Image for V. STASOV - STASOFF, Slavic and Oriental Manuscript Ornament. First edition in the original French and Russian. St. Petersburg, 1884-87. #2

Illuminated manuscripts from Europe to Central Asia through Greece, the Caucasus, Ethiopia and Arabic regions

STASOV – STASOFF, Vladimir Vasilievich

Slavianskii i vostochnyi ornament po rukopisiam drevniago i novago vremeni. L'Ornement slave et oriental d'après les manuscrits anciens et modernes

A.A. Reinbot for Ilin, Skt. Peterburg, 1884-87. £1,950

A complete copy of this magnificent production of high-level Russian art history, here focusing on manuscript decorations over centuries and many various regions, with many superb examples, from Central Europe, Georgia, Armenia, Egypt, Central Asia etc.

Image for V. GOLITSYN. Tsikhis-Dziri. Dachnoe mesto bliz Batumi. First edition, Batumi, 1911. #2

The ideal dacha on the Black Sea coast

GOLITSYN, V

Tsikhis-Dziri. Dachnoe mesto bliz Batumi [Tsikhis-Dziri: A Place for Summer Homes Near Batumi]

Tavartkiladze, Batumi, 1911. £750

A detailed publication advertising the dacha-lifestyle on the Georgian coast, a relatively recently conquered region - richly illustrated, with the folding map and much practical information. Very rare, with no copied traced in the West.

Image for S. SORINE. Portraits. First edition, full morocco binding. Berlin, 1929. #2

Famous portraits luxuriously bound and with provenance

SORINE, Savely [Savelii Abramovich SORIN] (artist) and André SALMON

Portraits

Edition Ganymed, Berlin, 1929. £5,950

A large, famous publication showing the rich and famous of the roaring twenties: an attractive example of this uncommon publication, coming from a descendant of some of the people portrayed. With the maximum number of plates.

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 VIAZMENSKII, P. Propaganda postcard. 1930s. #2

A great Constructivist postcard by a victim of the Purges

VIAZMENSKII, Lev

Malo vypolnit promfinplan, Nado perevypolnit [The Working-Plan Must Not Only Be Carried Out, but Surpassed].

Leningrad, Izogiz - Tip. Ivana Fedorova, [1930s]. £500

Great design for a postcard of typical economic propaganda, by a Communist enthusiast and victim of Stalin.

Image for BOTKIN. Sobranie. First edition of his art collection. St. Petersburg, 1911. #2

One of the great art collections in the world

BOTKIN, Mikhail Petrovich

Sobranie M.P. Botkina [The Collection of M.P. Botkin]

Skt. Peterburg, Golike i Vilborg, [1911]. £3,950

Lavish catalogue of this amazing art collection, now in the best museums of Russia. With more than 100 plates showing items from Byzantine, French, Italian, Caucasian cultures among others. A pleasant example of this volume, now very rarely seen on the market.

Image for G. GAGARIN. Byzantine and Russian ornaments. First edition, in Russian, St. Petersburg, 1887. #2

Ancient ornaments to enlighten modern architecture

GAGARIN, Prince Grigorii Grigorevich

Sbornik vizantiiskikh i drevne-russkikh ornamentov

Stauf and Khromolit. Stadler i Pattinot, Skt. Peterburg, 1887. £1,500

The luxuriously crafted first edition of Prince Gagarin's study of medieval Russian and Byzantine ornaments, mostly taken from manuscripts and architectural landmarks. A complete copy.

Image for SARYKULOVA. Grafika Kazakhstana. First edition, Antoshchenko-Olenev's copy. Alma-Ata, 1967. #2

Kazakh art by a woman art historian - with provenance

SARYKULOVA, Gul-Chara [Abutalipovna]

Grafika Kazakhstana [Graphic art of Kazakhstan]

Izd. 'Nauka' Kaz. SSR ['Nauka' publishing house of the Kazakh SSR], Alma-Ata, 1967. £1,750

A groundbreaking work on art from Kazakhstan, written by a major female figure of Kazakh art history - this copy with great artistic provenance. First edition, uncommon, a choice copy.

Image for [TRETYAKOV GALLERY] Very rare portfolio, Geneva, 1890s. #2

No other copy traced

[RUSSIAN ART] –

Khudozhestvennaia galereia P. i S. Tretiakovykh [The Art Gallery of P. and S. Tretyakov]

Tov. 'Kooperativniy izdatel', Geneve, [early 1890s]. £1,500

Fine, high-quality production showing some of the most famous Russian paintings. An extremely rare Geneva publication.

Image for FOSSATI & BARATTI. Currus triumphales..., First edition, in colour; Venice, 1782. #2

Russians in Venice, celebrated with merchants, peoples of the world and bullfighting

FOSSATI, Giorgio and Domenico, [with] Antonio BARATTI

Currus triumphales ad adventum clarissimorum Moschoviae principum Pauli Petrovitz et Mariae Theodorownae conjugis regali orandum spectaculo in Divi Marci venetiarum foro die 22 Januarii anno MDCCLXXXI

Venezia, si vende alla Casa di Fossati in Castelforte a S. Rocco, [1782]. £22,500

Fine and scarce Italian "livre de fêtes" with beautiful contemporary colour - with an added suite of prints related to the same event, the Venitian reception of the future Tsar of Russia.