First extensive original French work on Ukraine since Beauplan

CASTELNAU, Gabriel de

Essai sur l'histoire ancienne et moderne de la Nouvelle Russie: Statistique des provinces qui la composent: Fondation d'Odessa, ses progrès, son état actuel, détails sur son commerce: Voyage en Crimée, dans l'intérêt de l'agriculture et du commerce
Crapelet for Rey and Gravier, Paris, 1820. £1,150

First edition of this major, relatively early work on southern Ukraine, Odessa and Crimea; complete with engraved views and maps. A pleasant copy in attractive condition.

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A striking copy

GAUTIER, Théophile

Russia
The John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, 1905. £850

Impressive American publication, here in fantastic condition, bringing to the English-speaking reader an account of Russia by one of the great French authors.

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Authorised, but censored, with three pages in one

[HERBERSTEIN, Sigismund] Sigizmund GERBERSHTEIN and I. N. ANONIMOV (transl.)

Zapiski o Moskovii. (Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii) [Notes about Muscovy]
Bezobrazov i komp., Skt. Peterburg, 1866. £1,750

Finally available in Russia, more than 300 years after the first edition: this is the first book edition of Herberstein's groundbreaking travel account. A pleasant copy, with provenance, and showing a remarkable censor's afterthought, resulting in an interesting pagination feature.

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Russia and Saint Petersburg in Gogol's time

KOHL, J[ohann] G[eorg]

Petersburg in Bildern und Skizzen
Dresden und Leipzig, Arnold, 1841. £425

Attractive example of this unusually wide-ranging description of Russia and its northern capital, from food to libraries and many other subject matters. First edition, with its fine folding map of the city.

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Foreign aristocrats serving in Russia at the start of the 19th c.

OUVAROFF, Count [Sergei Semenovich UVAROV]

Stein and Pozzo di Borgo as portrayed by His Excellency Count Ouvaroff, Minister of Public Instuction in the Russian Empire
Ridgway, London, 1847. £395

Interesting historical sketch by and of important statesmen, here inscribed by the translator to Napoleon III. A rare essay.

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Reforming the laws of the empire

[LOPUKHIN, Prince Petr, and Nikolai NOVOSILTSEV]

Mémoire Presenté par le Ministère de la Justice Relativement à L'Organisation de la Comission des Lois [...] Suivi d'un Extrait des Rapports [...] sur les Travaux de Cette Commission. Première Partie [All published]
Jean Charles Schnoor, Saint Pétersbourg, 1804. £5,750

A fundamental work at the source of a clarification and homogenisation of the laws of the Russian empire at the turn of the 19th century. An excellent copy of this very rare publication: only one copy traced of this French issue of the first edition (Göttingen).

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Extensive ethnography of the peoples of the Caucasus

ZICHY, Eugene [Jenő], Dr. Jean [Janos] JANKO and Dr. Bela POSTA

Kaukaìzuri eìs Közeìpaìzsiai utazaìsai. Voyages au Caucase et en Asie Centrale : La Migration de la race Hongroise [et] La Description des collections
V. Hornyanszky for G. Ranschburg, Budapest, 1897. £1,950

Fine copy of this great scholarly work on the population of the Caucasus, richly illustrated. First edition.

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Russia in the 16th century Russia - with the three maps

HERBERSTEIN, Sigismund von, Paulo GIOVIO, Paul ODERBORN and others

Rerum Moscoviticarum auctores varii, unum in corpus nunc primum congesti
Francofurti, Cl. Marnius & Ioann. Aubrius, 1600. £6,500

Important edition gathering Herberstein's famous description of early Russia together with other related works, to give a wide-ranging understanding of Muscovy. With aristocratic provenance, in contemporary binding, and complete with its famous illustrations and maps, including Moscow's first printed plan.

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Mapping Russia's history and development for an international audience

WEYDEMEYER, Alexandre de

Tableaux historiques, chronologiques, geographiques et statistiques de l'Empire de Russie, avec une carte généalogique
Pluchart for Bellizard and others, St. Petersbourg, 1828. £3,250

First edition of this impressive wide-ranging work, finely printed by Pluchart in St. Petersburg. A scarce publication, with a wealth of information on the Russian empire up to Pushkin's time.

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Southeastern Europe in a signed full-morocco binding

DEMIDOFF, Anatole de, and Auguste RAFFET (artist)

Voyage dans la Russie méridionale et la Crimée par la Hongrie, la Valachie et la Moldavie exécutée en 1837
Paris, E. Bourdin, 1840. £2,500

Appealing copy of this classic travel account, here in first edition.

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Dancing stars in more than 30 pochoir plates and attractively bound

BARBIER, George, and Arabella YORKE (artists), Jean-Louis VAUDOYER, Francis de MIOMANDRE and Cyril BEAUMONT

Album dédié à Tamar Karsavina [BOUND WITH] The Art of Lydia Lopokova [BOUND WITH] Designs on the Dances of Vaslav Nijinsky
I. Paris, Collections Pierre Corrard; II & III. London, C. W. Beaumont, 1914, 1920 and 1913. £12,500

Scarce gathering of Yorke's beautiful and rare publication and both Barbier's 'albums', all bound at the time in a fine blue calf signed binding - a fine volume indeed.

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As issued

WARNERY, [Charles-Emmanuel] de

Remarques sur le militaire des Turcs et des Russes
Korn, Breslau (now Wroclaw, in Poland), 1771. £1,250

Excellent example of this detailed account of the forces in presence during the 1768-74 war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

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A censored work - in amazing condition

[WICHSELL, Jöran]

Beskrifning om Rysslands Belägenhet/ Gräntzor/ Landskaper/ Städer/ Styrelse/ Macht/ Plägseder och andra Beskaffenheter nu för tijden
Olao Enaeo, Stockholm, 1706. £2,950

An exceptionnal example, uncut, unopened and unbound, of a banned and later destroyed account of Peter the Great's Russia. First edition, rare.

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Account of 17th-c. Russia from a 'cabinet de lecture'

[COLLINS, Samuel]

Relation curieuse de l'estat present de la Russie
A Paris, chez Louis Billaine…, 1679. £2,000

Great (if often negative) early account of pre-petrine Russia, here in an unusual, uncut copy of the first French edition, from a private lending library with the label detailing its lending conditions. Includes the famous illustrated chapter on mushrooms - among many other remarks and anecdotes.

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From amber mining to sable hunting on ski

BRAND, Johann Arnold von

Reysen durch die Marck Brandenburg, Preussen, Churland, Liefland, Peßcovien, Groß-Naugardien, Tweerien und Moskovien […] anbey Eine Seltsame und sehr Anmerckliche Beschreibung von Siberien […]
Duisburg, Johannes Sas, for Jacob von Wesel, Wesel, 1702. £4,250

A very rich and overlooked 17th-c. travel account, with quantity of original material on Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Siberia, including music and songs in the vernacular, as well as many engraved plates, especially on amber mining, sable hunting on ski and Easter celebrations in Moscow. A rare Rossica.

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Production, trade and customs in Southern Eastern Europe

PEYSSONEL, Charles de

Traité sur le commerce de la Mer Noire
Laporte for Cuchet, Paris, 1787. £1,950

Fascinating account of the trade and business in Southern Russia and the Black Sea in the 18th century - with a wealth of details and personal comments. First edition, not common.

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"Die Reise um die Welt ohne Geld"

POHLIG, Emil

Zu Fuss: Kreuz und Quer Durchs das Ganze Russische Reich [On Foot: Crisscrossing the Whole Russian Empire]
[Germany and Russia, ca. 1897-1903]. £1,250

Unusual extensive manuscript travel account of a German going through Russia and recording his many observations - richly illustrated with a variety of added material. Only partly published in contemporary newspapers.

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Important early eyewitness account of Russia at a key moment

PETREJUS, Petrus

Regni Muschovitici sciographia. Thet är: een wiss och egenteligh beskriffning om Rydzland [History of the Grand Duchy of Muscovy. That is, a knowledgeable and accurate description of Russia]
Meurer, Stockholm, 1614-15. £2,750

Wide-ranging observations on Russia under and after Ivan the Terrible, including one of the first accounts of Siberian exile. The Macclesfield copy of the first edition.

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