BURTSOV, Vasilii (also BURTSEV)
[Bukvar] Nachalne uchenie ch[e]l[o]v[e]kom khotiashchim razumeti bozh[es]tvenago pisaniia [ABC, or Primer]
The first primer printed in Russia, first edition, in a great, complete example almost without restoration, and in its contemporary binding allowing generous margins showing an extremely rare typographic sign. A great rarity, with only one copy in oublic libraries outside Russia.
Read More Read MoreKAMPE [CAMPE, Joachim Heinrich; and Aleksandr Semenovich SHISHKOV, translator]
Detskaia biblioteka, izdannaia na nemetskom iazyke gospodinom Kampe, a s onago perevedena g. *** [Children's library [ie. Kleine Kinderbibliothek], published in German by Mr. Campe, and translated by M. ***].
More than a translation, an original adaptation, dedicated to Princess Dahskova, the first woman head of an Academy of Sciences and first female member of the American Philosophical Society. A very rare early edition of this important book for Russian children - and a lovely example with a sewn translation label!
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Tolstoy's own editing of his first novel: a lovely example, rare in original wrappers, of this second edition, specially adapted for children's reading and showing for the first time a different version from the standard text.
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Empress Mariia Fedorovna's copy of an important Russian textbook for arithmetic. First edition, in a lovely example finely bound in green silk with attractive endpapers.
Read More Read MoreLISSITZKY, El [Eliezer Lazar Markovich] (artist) and Peter Ben Zion RASKIN
Der Ber [The Bear]
A scarce Yiddish children's book by a major figure of the Russian and Jewish avant-garde: an early Kiev production of the important Kultur Lige, illustrated on every page by Lissitzky.
Read More Read MorePLATON [Petr LEVSHIN, later Metropolitan of Moscow]
Pravoslavnoe uchenie ili sokhrashchennaia khristianskaia bogosloviia, dlia Ego Imperatorskago Vysochestva … Tsesarevicha i Velikago Kniazia Pavla Petrovich.. [Orthodox Teaching, or Christian Theology Abridged, for His Imperial Highness…the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich].
First edition of this Catechism for Tsarevich Pavel, the "first textbook of Orthodox theology in Russia" by an important religious figure of 18th-c. Russia, whom Voltaire called "the Russian Plato". Very rare: no copy at auction and only 3 copies in libraries outside Russia.
Read More Read MoreIAZVINSKII, Aleksandr [actually Anton] Feliksovich
Sinkhronicheskiie tablitsy vseobshchei istorii, ukrashennyie 1500 portretami, sniatymi s medalei, sluzhashchiie k Khronograficheskomu atlasu A. Iazvinskogo [Synchronous Tables of the World History, decorated with 1,500 portraits copied from medals. A supplement to the chronographic atlas by A.Iazvinskii]
Very rare 'atlas' teaching world history without words, purely with images and visual memory: a very innovative teaching method in 19th-c. Russia, Poland, and Europe.
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Six languages with 5 different fonts: a rare introduction to biblical story for children, printed on blue paper a lovely copy.
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Charming early Soviet ABC by a noted artist of natural history, in excellent condition and very rare: we could trace only one copy at auction (in Russia) and one in a public library (in Russia too).
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