Rossica - Russica: Western books on Russia

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 C. de BRUIN [LE BRUN]. Reizen over Moskovie. Amsterdam, 1714. #2

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.

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 Group of Four Unpublished Intelligence Reports.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 A rare find, apparently unpublished.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 CHAPPE d'AUTEROCHE. Voyage en Sibérie. First edition, in contemporary binding. Paris, 1768. #2

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.

Image for POUCHKINE. Ruslan et Ludmila, première édition en vers, avec envoi, Paris, 1898. #2

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.

Image for H. BRINDLEY. Notes on the Boats of Siberia. First edition (offprint), London 1920. #2

On one of the longest rivers in the world

BRINDLEY, Harold Hulme

Notes on the Boats of Siberia

Reprinted from 'The Mariner's Mirror', [London], [1920]. £395

Fine essay on Siberian boats, their history, construction, use etc., with illustrations. Very rare offprint.

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.

"It never belonged to Russia" and it was nice to be Polish

[UKRAINE – POLAND]

Lwów and the Lwów Region

Barnard and Westwood Ltd., London, for Polish Ministry of Preparatory Work Concerning the Peace Conference, May 1945. £1,450

May 1945: World War II comes to an end, the Soviet are in Poland and Ukraine. It is time for the anti-Soviet Polish exiled to lobby the world's powers to restructure Poland as they wish to - that is including all its former regions, such as Eastern Galicia and Lvyv... This booklet is their detailed argumentation, with a wealth of explanations and statistics, and three maps. A fascinating read. Scarce: only 3 copies traced in the US.

Image for BENNER. Portraits of the Romanovs. First edition, complete copy. Moscow & St. Petersburg, 1817. #2

Fine stipple-engraved portraits

[ROMANOVS] – Henri BENNER

Sobranie 24-kh portretov imperatorskoi familii. Collection de vingt-quatre portraits de la famille impériale

Saint-Florent, Skt. Peterburg, and Rosenstrauch, Moskva, [1817]. £12,500

Attractive example of these famous portraits, kept here in their original portfolio and complete with both titles and subscribers' lists. Possibly from the Duchesse de Berry collection.

Image for ALEXANDER I. Grand Manifeste. First edition in French; Paris, 1816. #2

In copper-gold wrappers

[NAPOLEON] – ALEXANDRE I

Grand manifeste d'Alexandre 1er, Empereur et Autocrate de toutes les Russies

Tiger, Paris, 1816. £350

First edition in French of this political speech by the Tsar who vanquished Napoleon. Attractively bound.

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 CRULL & BOUVET, Moscovy and China, first edition. London, 1699. #2

In a binding with deer tools

[CRULL, Jodocus] (editor) and J[oachim] BOUVET

The Present Condition of the Muscovite Empire, till the Year 1699. In Two Letters: the First from a Gentleman, Who Was Conversant with the Muscovite Ambassadour in Holland: the Second from a Person of Quality at Vienna, Concerning the Late Muscovite Embassy, His Present Czarish Majesty; the Russian Empire; and Great-Tartary. With the Life of the Present Emperour of China

F. Coggan, London, 1699. £3,750

Russian and China at the end of the 17th century, in a lovely binding with deer tools. A fine example of the first edition, the Macclesfield copy.

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 S. COLLINS. Present State of Russia. First edition, London, 1671. #2

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.

Image for [CUSTINE] M. ERMOLOV. Encore quelques mots sur l'ouvrage... First edition, Paris, 1843. #2

Rare anti-Custine booklet

[CUSTINE] – M[ikhail ERMOLOV]

Encore quelques mots sur l'ouvrage de M. de Custine : La Russie en 1839

Lacour et Maistrasse for Ferra, Paris, 1843. £225

First edition of this 'comment' on Custine's celebrated description of Russia, part of a counter-propaganda campaign by the Russian empire. Very rare: no copy traced on the market nor in Americas.