Hand-coloured | PY Rare Books

First edition of this groundbreaking work, complete

Description de toutes les nations de l'empire de Russie.

Weitrecht (part 3) et Schnoor for Charles Guillaume Muller, St. Petersbourg, 1776-7. £14,500

First edition of this fundamental work on the Russian empire and its peoples, the result of a multi-year field trip by Georgi. The first work published in Russia with plates coloured by hand. Rare complete as here.

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 LIUBAVINA & DUBOVNA. Mat' [Mother]. First edition, with original hand-colour. St. Petersburg, 1918. #2

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.

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 [BAIRD] The St. Petersburg Steamboat. Large lithograph before the letter, contemporary hand-colour. 1830s #2

The first Russian steamboat - produced by a Scotsman

[BAIRD, Charles] – SUHR, Peter (artist, attrib. to)

Das St. Petersburger Dampfschiff [in pencil] [The St. Petersburg Steamboat]

[possibly Arnz, Düsseldorf, 1830s]. £1,500

Large representation of this innovative boat, one of the first passengers steamboats in the world with regular sea voyages. Very rare lithograph, before the letter and with contemporary hand-colouring, with no other copies traced in institutions.

Image for REMIZOV & TUROVA. Snezhok. First edition, hand-coloured. Petrograd, 1918. #2

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.

Image for PALLAS & GEISSLER. Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire. London, 1812. #2

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.

Image for PLESCHEEF - PLESHCHEEV. Survey of the Russian Empire. First edition in English, hand-coloured. London, 1792. #2

Impressive in colour

PLESCHEEF, Sergey (also Sergei MESHKOV-PLESHCHEEV) and James SMIRNOVE (transl.)

Survey of the Russian Empire

Debrett, London, 1792. £2,750

Fine, unusual copy of this first english edition of the most accurate description of the Russian empire at the end of Catherine the Great's reign. Usually black & white: but this copy with bold, vivid contemporary hand-colour.

Image for [FLOWERS - GAMES - ROMANOVS]. Oracles de Flore. From Tsarskoe Selo library. Paris, 1825 #2

From the Tsarskoe-Selo palace library

DEL., C. F. P. [Charles-François-Paul DELANGLARD or Charlotte de LATOUR]

Oracles de Flore

Paris, Janet, 1825. £1,950

A fine example of this lovely edition, here in fresh, attractive condition with Russian imperial provenance. With 36 flowers on 6 plates, with original hand-colour.

Image for W. SIMPSON. The Seat of War in the East. First edition, hand-coloured, London, 1855-56. #2

The preferred hand-coloured version - here with the rare text volume

SIMPSON, William

The Seat of War in the East

Day & Son for Colnaghi, London, 1855-56. £17,500

A most famous plate book on the Crimean War. First edition, a very good example complete of the deluxe version, with the smaller text volume.

Image for I. MARCHENKOV. Plan of Moscow. First printing, 1789. #2

"The first truly modern map of Moscow" - with contemporary hand-colour

MARCHENKOV, Ivan

Plan stolichnago goroda Moskvy [Plan of Moscow the Capital City]

[Timofei Polezhaev, Moskva], 1789. £12,500

An important and decorative plan of the Russian capital, printed the year of the French Revolution. A fine hand-coloured example. Very rare.

Image for GEISSLER, GRUBER & RICHTER. Russian Folk Amusements. First edition, Leipzig 1801. Complete with hand-coloured plates #2

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.

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....

Image for RYNKIEWICZ Family. Ms. documents for its 'szlachta' status. Vilnius, 1819 & 1863. In fine binding with brass seal. #1

Impressive manuscript confirmation of nobility

RYNKIEWICZ, Efim and family

Certification of 'szlachta' (nobility) status for the family

Vilnius, 1819 and 1863. £5,950

Striking official documents in manuscript, related to the Rynkiewicz family and its nobility status, in Polish and Russian with fresh watercolour illustrations. A fine item of heraldry, very well preserved its red-morocco binding and large brass seal: rare so.

Image for FOSSATI & BARATTI. Currus triumphales..., First edition, in colour; Venice, 1782. #2

Russians in Venice, celebrated with merchants, peoples of the world and bullfighting

FOSSATI, Giorgio and Domenico, [with] Antonio BARATTI

Currus triumphales ad adventum clarissimorum Moschoviae principum Pauli Petrovitz et Mariae Theodorownae conjugis regali orandum spectaculo in Divi Marci venetiarum foro die 22 Januarii anno MDCCLXXXI

Venezia, si vende alla Casa di Fossati in Castelforte a S. Rocco, [1782]. £22,500

Fine and scarce Italian "livre de fêtes" with beautiful contemporary colour - with an added suite of prints related to the same event, the Venitian reception of the future Tsar of Russia.

Image for FRANKLAND, R. Eight Representations of Shooting. First edition, 1813. #2

Hunting caricatures in colour

FRANKLAND, Robert

Eight Representations of Shooting

Cambridge, W.D. Jones, 1813. £2,500

Lovely humourous plates with original hand-colour, in a Sangorski binding.

Image for GERNING, SCHÜTZ & MORA. Viage pintoresco por las orillas del Rin. First edition in Spanish, London, 1826. #2

British aquatints of the Rhine for South Americans

[GERNING] – SCHÜTZ, Christian Georg (artist) and Jose Joaquin MORA

Viage pintoresco por las orillas del Rin, desde Maguncia hasta colonia

Carlos [sic] Wood for Ackermann, Londres, 1826. £7,500

Exceptionally rare edition in Spanish of one of the most successful illustrated books of the time, specifically conceived for the South American market. A beautiful copy.

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