Beautifully fresh

BENUA, Aleksandr [Alexandre BENOIS]

Azbuka v kartinakh [Alphabet in Pictures]
Skt. Peterburg, Eksp. Zagotov. Gos. Bumag, 1904. £7,500

A very desirable copy of this great artist's book and one of the best ABCs ever published, rare in such a fresh condition. First edition.

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Elaborate and rare lithographed Armenian calligraphy

PALCHEAN, Agheksandr

Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn [Beautiful Writing; ie. Calligraphy]
Vienna, Alois Leykum for Mkhit'areants', 1838. £3,950

Attractive volume showing fine Armenian calligraphy made to celebrate the new Armenian monastery in Vienna - to be built when the book was published. Very rare edition, with no copies traced in Armenia nor the Americas.

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Dali's copy - with all copper plates and the book's maquette

[DALI] – ARRABAL, Fernando and Julius BALTAZAR [pseud. for Hervé LAMBION] (artist)

Cinco sonetos
Imprimerie Moderne de la Presse for André Biren, Paris, 1980. £4,250

Excellent, unique copy of this rare livre d'artiste, warmly inscribed to Dali, with much added material and in a fine Leroux binding. "Let us suppress all the excesses / murderers tyrants and alligators" (colophon)

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Major avant-garde lithographs as scrap paper - with interesting notes

[GONCHAROVA, Natalia and Mikhail LARIONOV]

A Collection of Original Lithographs with Manuscript Notes
Moskva, 1913. £4,750

Fine group of important illustrations by Goncharova and Larionov, from the earliest days of Russian avant-garde, later used as scrap paper in Mayakovsky's circles.

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"The five-year plan for mastering the Arctic" (page 1)

LISSITZKY, El [Lazar Markovich] (designer)

USSR in Construction. The Arctic Issue (1933 No. 9)
The State Publishing Union of RSFSR, Moscow, 1933. £1,150

The famous Arctic issue of the main propaganda magazine from Soviet Union, designed by Lissitzky. A superb production, here in its English version and in fresh condition.

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Avant-garde women producing a rare children book

SINIAKOVA, M[ariia] (artist) and S[ofia] FEDORCHENKO

Dobryi son [Kind Dream/Nice Sleep]
Gos. izd., Moskva, 1930. £1,250

Very rare first edition of this children book: no copies traced outside Russia. A fine collaboration of two women active in circles of the Russian avant-garde.

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Fascinating and impressive panorama of Russian emigration in China

ZHIGANOV – JIGANOFF, Vladimir

Russkie v Shankhaie. Russians in Shanghai
Slovo, Shanghai, 1936. £5,750

Fantastic publication on the important Russian community in 1920s-30s Shanghai. Wide-ranging, very richly illustrated, with a wealth of fascinating details. A lovely copy of the first edition, scarce.

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Fine photomontage book on the Big Apple - published in English in Moscow

TAHIROFF, F[aik] (artist), John KASHKEEN (compiler), John REED, John DOS PASSOS and others

New York (an outline)
Co-operative publishing society of foreign workers in the USSR, Moscow, 1933. £9,750

"The price paid by American people": a fine Soviet book pulished in English in the wake of the Great Depression. With extensive photomontage; a very good copy of the first edition, rare complete with both supplements.

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Two women at work to celebrate Mother

LIUBAVINA, Nadezhda Ivanova (artist) and Sofiia DUBNOVA

Mat [Mother]
Petrograd, Segodnia, 1918. £2,250

Fine Russian children book from the avant-garde publisher, here in the preferred version with original hand-colour: one of only 125 copies.

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Fables in silhouette

NARBUT, Egor (artist) and Ivan Andreevich KRYLOV

Tri basni Krylova [Three Fables by Krylov]
Knebel, Moskva, [1911]. £850

Three fables by the most famous Russian fabulist, here illustrated by the leading Ukrainian artist. Scarce in this attractive condition.

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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.

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Goncharova's wide artistic spectrum

GONCHAROVA, Natalia (artist) and Alexander RUBAKIN

Gorod. Stikhi. La Cité [The City. Poems]
Parizh, [for the author], 1920. £6,250

Fine exampe of this great avant-garde production, strikingly illustrated by Goncharova and here housed in a Miguet binding.

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Avant-garde children book in post-revolutionary Petrograd

TUROVA, E[katerina] (artist) and Aleksei REMIZOV

Snezhok [Snowball]
Segodnia, Petrograd, [1918]. £2,500

Fine example of this rare, fragile edition of the Russian avant-garde, in the preferred version with original hand-colouring.

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Alexeieff illustrates Russian literature: one of the 'tirages de tête'

ALEXEIEFF, Alexandre (artist) and Philippe SOUPAULT

Chant du Prince Igor
Rolle, Paul Eynard, 1950. £4,950

A beautiful work with superb colours. One of only 6 copies on papier de Chine, with an additional print signed by Alexeieff and complete with its suites, kept in the original box. First edition of the plates and of this translation of this important text of Russian literature.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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Chagall's first book and a landmark of Yiddish book illustration

CHAGALL, Marc (artist) and Der NISTER [pseud. for Pinchus KAHANOVICH]

A Mayse mit a Hon; Dos Tsigele [A Story About a Rooster [and] The Little Goat]
Vilner farlag fun B.A. Kletskin, Petrograd, 1917. £22,500

Chagall's first illustrated book, his only children book, and a landmark of Yiddish book illustration, published the year of the Russian revolution. Very rare, especially in this very good condition: about 5 other copies known.

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