Interesting and rare St. Petersburg edition on Ottoman Turkish, with impressive plates of Ottoman documents. Only 2 copies traced outside Russia.
LOMONOSSOW, Michael [Mikhail LOMONOSOV] and Johann Lorenz STAVENHAGEN (translator)
Russische Grammatick
Attractive example of this celebrated, landmark grammar of the Russian language, here in its important first German translation, and the first foreign translation overall. No copies traced at auction in the last 40 years, and only 5 in libraries (1 only in USA).
LAGARP and SEN-LAMBERT [LA HARPE, Jean-François de, and Jean-François de SAINT-LAMBERT]
Poslanie Lagarpa k grafu Andreiu Petrovichu Shuvalovu, o deistviiakh selskoi prirody i o poezii opisatelnoi. S prisovokupleniem razsuzhdenii o sem rode poezii.. [La Harpe's Epistle to Count Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov, about the Effects of Rural Nature and about Descriptive Poetry. With the Addition of Reflections on this Kind of Poetry]
Fine example, uncut, with wrappers, and with bibliophile provenance, of this text of literary criticism written for, and dedicated to, Count Shuvalov by one of the major French writers of the time. Rare, with no copy traced on the market in recent decades (including in Russia).
VIGO ROUSSILLON, Francois-Paul, trans. Stankevich and Vitmer
Voennye sily Severo-Amerikanskikh Shtatov. Voina za nerazdelnost Soiuza (1861 - 1865) [The Military Forces of the North American States. War for the Integrity of the Union 1861-1865]
Exceedingly rare first book in Russian dealing with the American Civil War, illustrated with large folding maps. Apparently no copy in the USA of this first edition, only one outside Russia (in Rome).
BRODSKY, Iosif [Joseph BRODSKII] and Jamie FULLER (translator)
A Stop in a Desert
One of the earliest US publications by Brodsky and one of the first collaborations between him and Ardis, initiating a long-lasting and fruitful publishing history. Scarce poetical poster, with Brodsky's original signature.
![Image for [RUSSIAN POETRY IN TRANSLATION]. Nachbildungen Russischer Originale. First edition thus, inscribed. Berlin, 1905. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/3140_1-300x322.jpg)
Imperial copy of this scarce anthology of Russian poems in a German translation, inscribed to a Grand Duchess of Russia and granddaughter of Russia's greatest poet. Acquired from the Grand Duke's descent.
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.
Impressive example of the first edition, with a signed binding featuring two 1767 Russian coins. One of the greatest 20th-c. books on Eastern Russia, Siberia, and the historical relations with their neighbours. A fascinating and beautiful production.
VASCONCELOS GUEDES DE CARVALHO, José de (translator and editor)
Leis de Manú, primeiro legislador da India [Laws of Manu, India's First Legislator]
Scarce first edition of this major legal text of ancient India, here in its first Portuguese edition, printed in Nova Goa.
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 SHAKESPEARE & GRIGORIEV. Sheilok [The Merchant of Venice]. First edition of this translation. St. Petersburg, 1860. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2676_1-300x161.jpg)
SHEKSPIR [William SHAKESPEARE] and Apollon GRIGORIEV (translator)
Sheilok, Venetsianskii zhid [Shylock, The Merchant of Venice [or in this case] The Jew of Venice]
Very rare translation into Russian of Shakespeare 'Merchant of Venice'. An appealing example.
PLESCHEEF, Sergey (also Sergei MESHKOV-PLESHCHEEV) and James SMIRNOVE (transl.)
Survey of the Russian Empire
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.
EPIKTIT [EPICTETUS], Kevit Fiveiskii [CEBES of Thebes] and Grigorii POLETIKA (translator)
Epiktita stoicheskago filosofa Enkhiridion i Apofoegmy i Kevita Fiveiskago Kartina ili Izobrazhenie zhitiia chelovecheskago [Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher's Enchiridion and Apothegms; and The Picture, or a Representation of the Life of Man, by Cebes of Thebes]
An important edition: the first of Epictetus and Cebes in Russia, and one of the first translations of Greek into Russian. Very rare: no copy traced outside Russia.
[PUSHKIN] – Alexandre POUCHKINE, Véra STARKOFF (transl.) and Marie EGOROFF (artist)
Rouslane et Ludmile
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 ZIDE [SIEDE] & GROMOV, Nezhnyia obiatiia v brake... First edition, St. Petersburg, 1798. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/428_1-300x453.jpg)
[ZIDE, Iogann Khristoforovich [Johann Christian SIEDE] and Gleb GROMOV (translator)]
Nezhnyia obiatiia v brake i potekhi s liubovnitsami (prodazhnymi) izobrazheny i sravneny pravdoliubom [Tender Embraces in Marriage and Pastime with (Venal) Mistresses, Depicted and Compared by a Truth Seeker]
A risqué book for Russian readers of the 1800s onwards, celebrated as a rarity by many bibliographers. A lovely copy of the first edition, in contemporary binding and fine condition.
Pleasant example, fresh internally, of this famous production of Alexeieff illustrating Pushkin. First edition with these illustrations. One of the "few copies" not for sale.
MALTUS [Thomas Robert MALTHUS] and P. A. BIBIKOV (transl.)
Opyt o zakone narodonaseleniia ili izlozhenie proshedshago i nastoiashchago deistviia etogo zakona na blagodenstvie chelovecheskago roda […] [Essay on the Law of Population]
Scarce first Russian edition of a major landmark of economic literature, the Essay on the Principle of Population, first published in English in 1798. An interesting edition with much material added by the translator Bibikov.