Army and Military | PY Rare Books

Image for N. PIROGOV. Letters from Sebastopol. First edition in original Russian. St. Petersburg, 1899. #2

A Russian doctor in the Crimean War

PIROGOV, Nikolai Ivanovich

Sevastopolskie pisma [Letters from Sebastopol]

Stasiulevich, Skt. Peterburg, 1899. £275

First edition of these Crimean War letters from a Russian surgeon.

Image for I. BOZHERIANOV. Napoleon's invasion in Russia. First edition in original Russian. St. Petersburg, 1911. #2

Russian artists' impression of Napoleon's campaign

BOZHERIANOV, Ivan Nikolaevich

Nashestvie Napoleona [Napoleon's Invasion and the Patriotic War of 1812. Album of Colour Reproductions of Paintings of Famous Artists]

Prokudin-Gorskii & Laurson, Skt. Peterburg, 1911. £1,950

First edition of this extensive artistic record of Napoleon's catastrophic Russian campaign. A fine production, with imperial provenance.

Our friends the English

Angliia [England]

Obshchestvennaia Polza for Rodnoe Slovo, Moskva, 1914. £450

A lovely, illustrated booklet presenting England as an ally at the beginning of WWI. First edition, in appealing condition, from a reading library with the matching label - and very rare with no copies traced worlwide.

Image for [RUSSIAN ARMY] Mundiry Imperatorskoi Rossiiskoi Armii. Five manuscript sheets. St. Petersburg, 1850s. #3

In manuscript of the highest quality

[MILITARY – WATERCOLOURS]

Mundiry Imperatorskoi Rossiiskoi Armii [Uniforms of the Imperial Russian Army]

[Skt. Peterburg, 1850s]. £8,500

Superb set of very rare military tables in fine manuscript and gouache with gold and silver highlights. Of probable imperial provenance.

Image for PAJOL. Armée Russe. First edition, complete. Paris, 1856. #3

A French officer pays artistic homage to the military style of his opponent

PAJOL, Charles Pierre, Comte de (Lieut.-colonel)

Armée Russe

Auguste Bry et Lemercier, Paris, 1856. £32,500

A remarkable visual record of Russian military uniforms just before the Crimean War. With beautiful full-page plates. Scarce, especially complete as here. With fine provenance: from the French Bibliothèque Impériale.

Image for F. BASTIN. L'Armée russe. First edition, complete. Paris & Russia, 1840s #2

Extremely rare colourful costumes

BASTIN, F[erdinand] (artist)

L'Armée russe [manuscript title]

Lemercier, Paris, for Daziaro, Paris and Russia, [1840s]. £4,500

Extremely rare lithographed plates with original hand-colour, mostly showing officers' costumes of the Russian Imperial Guard. A complete copy, in attractive condition.

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 General GOLOVIN. Russian Military Efforts in the First World War. First expanded edition in Russia. Paris, 1939 #2

Fine example in lovely condition

GOLOVIN, N. N., General

Voennye usiliia Rossii v Mirovoi voine [Russian Military Efforts in the World War]

Tov. obedenennikh pisatelei, Parizh, 1939. £295

Comprehensive research on Russia's role in the First Wolrd War; an influential work, here in fine condition.

Image for VIGO ROUSSILLON, Military Forces of the North American States - in Russian; first edition. Skt. Peterburg, 1868. #2

The American Civil War for a Russian audience

VIGO ROUSSILLON, Francois-Paul, trans. Stankevich and Vitmer

Voennye sily Severo-Amerikanskikh Shtatov. Voina za nerazdelnost Soiuza (1861 - 1865) [The Military Forces of the North American States. War for the Integrity of the Union 1861-1865]

Skt. Peterburg, [Published with the support of the Military-Scientific Committee of the General Staff], 1868. £2,950

Exceedingly rare first book in Russian dealing with the American Civil War, illustrated with large folding maps. Apparently no copy in the USA of this first edition, only one outside Russia (in Rome).

Image for S. KITTLE. A Concise History of the Cossacks. First edition, Edinburgh, 1814. #2

Rare children book - with "Cossacks regiments for the British army"

KITTLE, Samuel

A Concise History of the Cossacks: Including a Sketch of the Customs of the Greek Church

Lawrie & Co. Printers, Edinburgh, for Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, W. Baynes and W. Kent, London, T. Johnson, Dublin, 1814. £750

A very rare and unusual publication during the Cossack enthusiasm in the UK following Napoleon's failure in Russia. Apparently no copies in America, only 3 in the British Isles and none at auction in the past 50 years.

Image for YAROSLAVENKO. Ukrainski marshi... First edition, Lviv, ca. 1927. #2

Patriotic marches in 1920s Western Ukraine

YAROSLAVENKO, Ya[roslav]

Ukrainski marshi na trubnu orkhestru. Marsh Sichovykiv. Pershi Zaporozhtsi [Ukrainian Marches for Trumpet Orchestra. March of the Sich Riflemen. The First Zaporozhian Cossacks]

Muzychna Nakladnia "Torban", Lviv, [ca. 1927]. £450

Exceedingly rare edition, with no other copies found. An interesting production from a music publisher in early 20th-century Western Ukraine, then in Poland.

Image for U.P.A. Vporiad. The Drill. 1946 edition, probably Germany. #2

How to fight various invaders

[UKRAINE]

Vporiad. Peredruk vydannia U.P.A. 1943 [The Drill. A Reprint of Publications by the UPA. 1943]

[Germany], 1946. £750

Extremely rare book explaining Ukrainian nationalists how to fight in the 1940s. Only one other copy traced.

Image for SHANKOVSKY, L. Istoriia UPA. Ukraine, early 1990s. #2

Pre-Soviet nationalists in post-Soviet Ukraine

[SHANKOVSKY, Lev]

Istoriia UPA [History of the UPA]

[Ukrainian SSR or Ukraine, early 1990s]. £475

Rare 'publication' -or samizdat- focusing on the history of its now famous Ukrainian resistance group. No other copy traced outside Ukraine.

Image for A. NOS. Nachalo dobrovolnago flota. Voluntary Russian fleet. First edition, Moscow, 1890. #2

Extremely rare work on the Russian fleet, in an even rarer binding

NOS, Andrei

Nachalo dobrovolnago flota [The Beginning of the Voluntary Fleet]

Moskva, Rikhter, 1890. £2,750

A diplomatic gift from Nikolay II to the French President Felix Faure, in a great, striking binidng boasting the Russian flag. First edition of this fine illustrated work, very rare as only one other copy traced worldwide.

Image for [SERGEI MIKHAILOVICH ROMANOV]. Sbornik. First edition, Novyi Sad-Belgrade, 1934. #2

Rare and richly illustrated

LASHKOV, S.I

Ego Imperatorskoe Vysochestvo Velikii Kniaz Sergei Mikhailovich.. [His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich [...] Reminiscences about His Life and Work, and about the Development of Artillery during His Lifetime]

S. Filonov, Novyi Sad, for Izd. tsentraln. Pravlen. Russkikh Ofitserov Artilleristov za-rubezhom, Belgrad, 1934. £375

Scarce émigré work commemorating a prominent member of the Romanov family, active during WWI and shot by the Bolsheviks; first edition, published in Yugoslavia (now Serbia).