Bindings of note | PY Rare Books

Image for MAYERBERG - MEYERBERG. Iter in Moschoviam... First edition, ca. 1665. #2

One of the best accounts of Russian after Herberstein

MAYERBERG [also MEYERBERG], Baron Augustin von

Iter in Moschoviam..

, [ca. 1665]. £3,950

Exceptionnally fine example of this important travel account, which includes the first printing out of Russia of Tsar Alexis famous 'Ulozhenie'. A very attractive copy in a lovely if later binding.

Image for ASHIK, A. Vosporskoe tsarstvo [Bosphorus Kingdom], first edition, Odessa, 1848-9. #2

Crimean Greek antiquities in red morocco

ASHIK, Anton Baltazarovich

Vosporskoe tsarstvo s ego paleograficheskimi i nadgrobnymi pamiatnikami, raspisnymi vazami, planami, kartami i vidami [The Bosphorus Kingdom and its Palaeographic Monuments and Tombstones, Painted Vases, Plans, Maps and Views]

T. Neiman, Odessa, 1848-1849. £4,750

The first significant work on the Greek antiquities on the Black Sea shores. A complete copy of this famous archeological book finely produced in Odessa, here in a luxurious binding. With unusual provenance.

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 [BIBLE, Slavonic]. Evangelie [Gospels]. First edition under Catherine the Great. Complete. Moscow, 1762. #2

Catherine the Great's first Gospels, attractively bound

[BIBLE, Slavonic] – Vailei IKONNIKOV (engraver) and Semen VTOROV (artist)

Evangelie [Gospels]

[Sinod. Tip.], Moskva, November 1762. £8,500

Very rare, with no copy traced outside Russia, and only two there. First separate edition of the Church Slavonic Gospels published under Catherine's reign, illustrated, complete and in a lovely, fragile velvet binding.

Image for CHAPPE d'AUTEROCHE. Voyage en Sibérie. First edition, in contemporary binding. Paris, 1768. #2

Attractive copy of this famous travel account

CHAPPE D’AUTEROCHE, Jean-Baptiste and Stepan Petrovich KRASHENINNIKOV

Voyage en Sibérie, fait par ordre du Roi en 1761; contenant les moeurs, les usages des Russes, et l'etat actuel de cette puissance [and] contenant la description du Kamchatka

Debure, Paris, 1768. £9,750

A very fresh copy of the first edition of one of the great French travels abroad, and a classic representative of French 18th-century publishing, with many artistic illustrations, engraved maps, and high quality printing. With a wealth of details on Russian, Siberia, the Russian Far East, including Kamchatka and the Northern Pacific.

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 L.-J. de JONGH. L'Huile de foie de morue... First edition, red morocco bound for the Tsar, Paris, 1853. #2

Disgusting, but so healthy!...

JONGH, Lodewijk Joseph, de

L'Huile de foie de morue envisagée sous tous les rapports comme moyen thérapeutique

Paris, L. Martinet pour Victor Masson, 1853. £1,850

Lovely copy of the first edition of the definitive treaty on cod liver oil and its medical properties. Attractively bound in red morocco with the arms of Russia.

Image for GENKEL & SUETIN. Ford and Fordism. First edition, Leningrad, 1925. #2

Ford's influence in the early USSR

GENKEL, German and Nikolai SUETIN (artist)

Ford i fordizm: vpechatleniia [Ford and Fordism: Impressions]

Kubuch, Leningrad, 1925. £1,750

Fine cover for one of the great Russian books on the influential American industrialist. Uncommon, and here in a pleasant example.

Image for [ROMANOVS] P. LEBEDEV. Historical album; Portraits of the Royal House of the Russian Land. First edition, very rare. St. Petersburg, 1875. #2

Early photographic album

[ROMANOVS] – P. LEBEDEV (artist)

Istoricheskii albom tysiacheletiia Rossii. Portrety tsarskogo doma zemli russkoi s 862-1862 g [The Millenium of Russia Historical Album. Portraits of the Royal House of the Russian Land 862-1862]

K. Solovev, Skt. Peterburg, 1875. £3,500

Very rare: no copy traced on the Russian market, no copy traced oustide Russia. A luxury celebration of the Russian rulers, with the use of photography, and fine chomolithography. In an impressive full-leather binding.

Image for G. SHVETSOV. Three works on Tsar Alexander II and Russia, inscribed to Olga Aleksandrovna. St. Petersburg, 1884-87. #2

Inscribed by the liberated serf to the Tsar's natural daughter

[ROMANOVS – ALEXANDER II] – SHVETSOV, Gordei Mikhaïlovich

Sochineniia russkogo poeta prostoliudina [Title on cover] [Works of the Russian Common-Man Poet]

Dobrodeev, Skt. Peterburg, 1887, 1884 and 1885. £4,750

A fascinating volume concentrating various aspects of Tsar Alexander's II legacy, with poems celebrating his achievements, written by a former, freed serf and inscribed to the tsar's daughter with his mistress. An exceptional copy.

Image for ALEXANDER I. Grand Manifeste. First edition in French; Paris, 1816. #2

In copper-gold wrappers

[NAPOLEON] – ALEXANDRE I

Grand manifeste d'Alexandre 1er, Empereur et Autocrate de toutes les Russies

Tiger, Paris, 1816. £350

First edition in French of this political speech by the Tsar who vanquished Napoleon. Attractively bound.

Image for [ROMANOVS] Childhood, Education and Young Years of the Russian Tsars. First edition, in the original Russian. Skt. Peterburg, 1914. #2

With the gilt cover in fine condition

[ROMANOVS] – Ivan Nikolaevich BOZHERIANOV

Detstvo, vospitanie i leta iunosti russkih imperatorov [Childhood, Education and Young Years of Russian Emperors]

Benke, Skt. Peterburg, [1914]. £4,250

Pleasant and attractive example of this great book, a luxurious, richly illustrated production presenting the childhood of the Romanov tsars over 200 years. First edition, scarce in such condition.

Image for K. R. [Konstantin ROMANOV]. Poems and New Poems, in the original Russian, bound together. St. Petersburg, 1889. #2

The most august of Russian poets

K. R. [pseud. for Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich ROMANOV]

Stikhotvoreniia K. R.: 1879-1885 [bound with] Novye stikhotvoreniia K. R.: 1886-1888 [Poems of K. R.: 1879-1885, bound with: New Poems of K. R.: 1886-1888]

Iz gos. tip., Skt. Peterburg, 1889. £1,450

Two volumes in one of the lyrics of Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov. A friend of Tchaikovsky and key patron of the arts in the last decades of the Russian Empire, the Grand Duke concealed his poetical activities behind the initials "K. R.". A fine example of these rare editions.

Image for CRULL & BOUVET, Moscovy and China, first edition. London, 1699. #2

In a binding with deer tools

[CRULL, Jodocus] (editor) and J[oachim] BOUVET

The Present Condition of the Muscovite Empire, till the Year 1699. In Two Letters: the First from a Gentleman, Who Was Conversant with the Muscovite Ambassadour in Holland: the Second from a Person of Quality at Vienna, Concerning the Late Muscovite Embassy, His Present Czarish Majesty; the Russian Empire; and Great-Tartary. With the Life of the Present Emperour of China

F. Coggan, London, 1699. £3,750

Russian and China at the end of the 17th century, in a lovely binding with deer tools. A fine example of the first edition, the Macclesfield copy.

Image for TRAUBERG & KHODASEVICH. Akter amerikanskogo kino [Actor of American Cinema]. First edition, Leningrad, 1927. #2

"Through the USA - to the USSR" (p. 10)

TRAUBERG, Il[ia] and V[alentina] KHODASEVICH (artist)

Akter amerikanskogo kino [The Actor in American Cinema]

Leningrad, Academia, 1927. £750

First edition of this scarce, developed study of American cinema in the 1920s. A pleasant copy, in its original photomontage wrappers.

Image for N. CHAKIROV. Tsars' coronations & history of the Russian empire. First edition, New York, 1971. #2

In bright condition

CHAKIROV, Nikita (editor)

Tsarskie koronatsii na Rusi iz Istorii Derzhavy Rossiiskoi XVI-XX vv. The history of the Russian Empire

Printed in Japan for the Russian Orthodox Youth Committee, New York, 1971. £950

Fine, fresh example of this luxurious book, which covers the Romanovs' dynasty with an impressive array of illustrations. First edition.

Image for MORNAY, DUBOURG & CLARK. A Picture of St. Petersburg. First edition, London, 1815. With original hand-colour and finely bound. #2

Saint Petersburg in colours

MORNAY (artist)

A Picture of St. Petersburg, represented in a Collection of Twenty interesting Views of the City, the Sledges, and the People. Taken on the Spot, at the twelve different Months of the Year: and accompanied with an Historical and Descriptive Account

Howlett and Brimmer, and Dove for Edward Orme, London, 1815. £14,500

A finely bound copy of this cornerstone of any Russian, or indeed colour-plate collection, showing the Northern Capital in colours and in all seasons, as Napoleon would have seen it if....

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