PYRB AT FIRSTS-LONDON-26 | PY Rare Books

Image for SEBAH. Georgian Man. Photography, ca. 1880s. #2

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.

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 TOLSTOY, L. Vlast Tmy [The Power of Darkness]. First edition, Moscow, 1887. #2

"For adults" as printed on the title page

TOLSTOY, Lev

Vlast Tmy [The Power of Darkness]

Sytin, Moskva, 1887. £1,100

First edition of Tolstoy's play, forbidden for the stage during some years. A very good example in contemporary binding.

Image for GONCHAROVA & RUBAKIN. Gorod - La Cité. First edition, Miguet binding. Paris, 1920. #2

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.

Image for H. MOSER. A travers l'Asie centrale. First edition, inscribed to Henri Cordier. Paris, 1885. #2

Cordier's beautiful copy of Moser's journey through Central Asia

MOSER, Henri

A travers l'Asie centrale

Plon, Nourrit and Cie, Paris, [1885]. £1,650

An excellent example of the first edition of this travel account in nowadays Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan - inscribed by the author to Henri Cordier. Richly illustrated, with a folding map of the region.

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 ALEXEIEFF & SOUPAULT. Chant du Prince Igor. First edition thus. Rolle, 1950. #2

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.

Image for LEVCHINE, A. Description des hordes..., Première édition en français, exemplaire Barante, Paris, 1840. #2

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.

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 KLAPROTH. Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia... First edition in English, London, 1814. #2

Ethnography in the Caucasus

KLAPROTH, Julius von

Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia, Performed in the Years 1807 and 1808 by Command of the Russian Government

London, Henry Colburn, 1814. £2,850

Lovely copy, in contemporary binding, of this major work on the Caucasus region and its people. First English edition.

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 BEREZIN. Journey through Dagestan and Tanscaucasia. Expanded edition. Kazan, 1850. #2

The Eastern Caucasus in great details

BEREZIN, Ilia and Georgii GOGENFELDEN (artist)

Puteshestvie po Dagestanu i Zakavkaziu [Journey through Dagestan and Transcaucasia]

Kazan, Univ. tip., 1850. £3,750

Important, detailed account of nowadays Dagestan and Azerbaijan, with fine observations and 14 plates, published in Kazan. Scarce: no copy at auction and only 4 in institutions.

Image for PUSHKIN & VASNETSOV. Pesn o Veshchem Olege. Moskva, 1914. #2

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).

Image for PUSHKIN. Eugene Oneguine. First English translation, inscribed. London, 1881. #2

Onegin in English for the first time, "with the translator's compliments"

PUSHKIN, Alexander and Henry SPALDING (transl.)

Eugene Onéguine

London, Macmillan and Co., 1881. £8,000

Desirable copy of this landmark translation, the first into English and here inscribed by the translator.

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 M. DZHANASHVILI. History of Georgia and Russia. First edition, inscribed. Tiflis, 1912. #2

History from Georgia and Armenia, to Central Asia and Palestine - inscribed

DZHANASHVILI, Mose

K materialam po istorii o drevnostiam Gruzii i Rossii [On the History and Antiquities of Georgia and Russia]

Tip. Kantseliarii Namestnika E.I.V. na Kavkaze, Tiflis, 1912. £1,500

A desirable copy of this historical booklet with an agenda: showing that Georgia and Russia haven been naturally linked for centuries. Covering also other, more unexpected regions. First edition, inscribed and with émigré provenance.

Image for [USSR: SIBERIA & FAR EAST]. Group of Four Unpublished Intelligence Reports. UK/USA, 1960s. #2

From a missile site and political discussions to the coldest city in the world and "a little alcohol"

A Group of Four Confidential Reports of British, American and Australian Diplomats in Siberia and the Russian Far East

, July 21-27, 1960; February 12-22, 1962; August 29 - September 9 [c. 1965]; August 8-12 [c. 1965-67]. £1,250

About 40 pp. of fantastic and confidential reading giving a detailed and open description of Siberia during the USSR, to Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Yakutsk. A rare find, apparently unpublished.

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.

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