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.

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Early photographs of Tatars

VISHNEVSKII, Stepan Mikhailovich

[Three Portraits of Tatar People]
[Astrakhan, early 1870s]. £650

Fine portraits of three people from Tatarstan, in traditional dress. Rare to find such early photographs of Tatar people, and in such fresh condition.

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In traditional dress

SEBAH, Pascal

Portrait of a Georgian Man
Constantinople, [c.1880]. £125

Lovely carte-de-visite portrait by the leading photographer based in Constantinople.

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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.

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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.

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From the Caspian Sea to Crimea, extensively illustrated

PALLAS, Peter Simon

Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire [Translated from German by F.W.Blagdon].
Stockdale, London, 1812. £1,750

Fresh example of this classic travel account through Southern Russia, Ukraine and the Crimea - richly illustrated with original hand-colour. In a sturdy modern binding.

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A splendid copy, unusually bound

BADDELEY, John F

Russia, Mongolia, China
London, Macmillan & Co, 1919. £4,750

Impressive example of the first edition, with a signed binding featuring two 1767 Russian coins. One of the greatest 20th-c. books on Eastern Russia, Siberia, and the historical relations with their neighbours. A fascinating and beautiful production.

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By the "Herodot of Kazakh steppes" - the dedicatee's copy

LEVCHINE, Alexis de [Aleksei Iraklevich LEVSHIN, also LIOVSHIN]

Description des hordes et des steppes des Kirghiz-Kazaks ou Kirghiz-Kaïssaks
Imprimerie royale for Arthus Bertrand, Paris, 1840. £2,750

The first extensive study of the people of Kazakhstan: first French edition, with the same illustrations as the original Russian edition; including a folding map of the area, which was very rare at the time. This is the copy which belonged to 'Le Baron de Barante', the dedicatee of the translation.

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A fresh, crisp example of this celebrated travel account

BRUIN [BRUYN], Cornelis de

Reizen over Moskovië door Persië en Indië: verrykt met driehondert kunstplaten
Wetstein et al., Amsteldam, 1714. £7,500

One of the great accounts of Russia under Peter the Great, as well as Persia, especially remarkable for the wealth of illustrations. Here in a beautifully fresh example of this Dutch edition.

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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.

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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.

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The epitome of the Russian children book

BILIBIN, Ivan (artist)

Skazki [Folk Tales]
Skt. Peterburg, Eksp. Zagotovl. Gos. Bumag, 1901-1903. £4,950

Fine, complete set of the six children books which made Bilibin's fame so long lasting. All in first edition, beautifully preserved.

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Ballets Russes innovations in large pochoirs

GONTCHAROVA [Natalia GONCHAROVA] and LARIONOW [Mikhail LARIONOV] (artists), and Valentin PARNAKH

L'Art décoratif théâtral moderne
Paris, Crété for 'La Cible', 1919. £10,000

Fine complete copy of the first, limited edition. With beautiful plates by the two Russian avant-garde artists working for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris, some of these illustrations large and strikingly colourful.

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No other set traced

N.B. [presumably Nikolai Alekseevich BOGATOV] and Vasilii PEROV (artists)

Russkie tipy [Russian types]
Kushnerev i Ko, Moskva, [ca. 1889]. £375

Lovely set of depictions of various peoples of the Rusisan empire, most probably published for the Paris 'Exposition Universelle'. Of great rarity, as we couldn't find any other example. With (most of) the original printed envelope.

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Partying in late 18th-c. Russia

GEISSLER, [Christian Gottfried Heinrich], J.G. GRUBER and J. RICHTER

Russische Volke-Vergnügungen [Russian Folk Amusements]
Leipzig, Im Industrie Comptoir, [1801]. £5,750

Very rare large-format plates in striking colours, by a master of the genre. Last copy traced on the market: in 1931, incomplete.

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Glitter, colours and traditions

[OPERA COSTUMES IN UKRAINE AND AZERBAIJAN]

Collection of Costume Designs for Opera and Ballet
USSR, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, [1940s]. £3,950

From Ukraine to Azerbaijan: a rich and unusual group of watercolour costumes for various operas given in theatres of these countries.

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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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Drunk "very unhandsome" Circassian ladies and Russian mushrooms

[COLLINS, Samuel]

The Present State of Russia, in a Letter to a Friend at London, written by an eminent person residing at the great czars court at Mosco [sic] for the space of nine years
John Winter for Dorman Newman, London, 1671. £3,000

Great (if often negative) early account of pre-petrine Russia, with an important portrait of Tsar Alexei and a famous chapter on mushrooms - among many other remarks and anecdotes. Attractive example of the first edition.

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