Unusual items | PY Rare Books

Image for POLANCUS & BUDINIC. Ispravnik za erei... [Guide for Priests...]. First edition in Croatian Glagolitic. Rome, 1635. #2

Croatian Glagolitic for an important Jesuit text, by Ignatius of Loyola's secretary

POLANCUS, Joannes [Juan Alfonso de POLANCO] and Sime BUDINIC (transl.)

Ispravnik za erei, ispovidnici, i za pokornih [Guide for Priests, Confessors and the Penitent]

Roma, Propaganda Fide, 1636. £6,750

Fresh example of this Propaganda Fide edition in Croatian Glagolitic of an important Jesuit text for priests. Uncommon.

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 [ARMENIAN CALLIGRAPHY]. A. PALCHEAN. Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn. First edition, Vienna, 1838. #2

Elaborate and rare lithographed Armenian calligraphy

PALCHEAN, Agheksandr

Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn [Beautiful Writing; ie. Calligraphy]

Vienna, Alois Leykum for Mkhit'areants', 1838. £3,950

Attractive volume showing fine Armenian calligraphy made to celebrate the new Armenian monastery in Vienna - to be built when the book was published. Very rare edition, with no copies traced in Armenia nor the Americas.

Image for I.C. AMADUTIUS. Alphabetum armenum. First edition with animal letters. Rome, 1784. #2

First with the fine woodcut animal letters

AMADUTIUS, Iohannes Christophorus [Giovanni Cristoforo AMADUZZI]

Alphabetum armenum

Propaganda fide, Romae, 1784. £1,750

Fine example of this attractive Armenian alphabet for missionaries, the first edition with the lovely animal-shaped letters.

Image for ARRABAL & BALTAZAR. Cinco Sonetos. First edition, inscribed to Dali, with supplementary material. Paris, 1980. #2

Dali's copy - with all copper plates and the book's maquette

[DALI] – ARRABAL, Fernando and Julius BALTAZAR [pseud. for Hervé LAMBION] (artist)

Cinco sonetos

Imprimerie Moderne de la Presse for André Biren, Paris, 1980. £4,250

Excellent, unique copy of this rare livre d'artiste, warmly inscribed to Dali, with much added material and in a fine Leroux binding. "Let us suppress all the excesses / murderers tyrants and alligators" (colophon)

Image for [P. QUESNEL]. Almanach du Diable. Manuscript copy. Ca. 1737 #2

Manuscript copy of a hellish, banned satire

ASMODEUS [pseud. for Abbé Pierre QUESNEL]

Almanach du Diable contenant de prédictions tres curieuses et absolument infaillibles pour l'année 1737

Aux Enfers, 1737. £5,000

A lovely object, the holograph copy of a blasphemous text written by a priest and suppressed in France upon publication in the late 1730s. The Devil's Almanac!

Image for GONCHAROVA & LARIONOV. Original Lithographs with Manuscript Notes. Moscow, 1913. #2

Major avant-garde lithographs as scrap paper - with interesting notes

[GONCHAROVA, Natalia and Mikhail LARIONOV]

A Collection of Original Lithographs with Manuscript Notes

Moskva, 1913. £4,750

Fine group of important illustrations by Goncharova and Larionov, from the earliest days of Russian avant-garde, later used as scrap paper in Mayakovsky's circles.

Image for KARNOVICH, E. Bogastva v Rossii. Skt. Peterburg, 1885. #2

The 'Russian oligarchs' of yesterday

KARNOVICH, Evgenii

Zamechatelnyia bogatstva chastnykh lits v Rossii [Remarkable Wealths of Private Individuals in Russia]

Sankt Peterburg, Suvorin, 1885. £1,250

Fresh example, in contemporary binding, of this extensive, high-quality, and very unusual study of private wealth in tsarist Russia. A fascinating and very informative read, curiously authorised by the censors.

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 IVANOV. USSR Literacy poster. Petrograd, 1920. #1

"The book is the light of communism"

I[VANOV, Sergei] (artist)

Kniga nichto inoe kak chelovek govoriashchii publichno [A Book Is Nothing Else but an Individual Speaking out Loud]

Gosudarstvennoye Izdatelstvo, Peterburg [Petrograd], 1920. £1,950

A fine, large book-themed poster from the young USSR, with slogans such as "Reading is needed to know how to beat the ennemies of the working class". In superb condition.

Image for [J.G. SPARWENFELD]. Placzewnaja recz... First edition, Stockholm, 1697. #2

Russian verses at the Swedish court - in transliteration

[SPARWENFELD, Johan Gabriel]

Placzewnaja recz na pogrebenie […] ghossudarja Karolusa odinatsetogho [Oration in Russian on the Occasion of the Death of Charles XI of Sweden]

Stokoln [Stockholm], 1697. £4,750

An extremely rare and very intriguing publication, mixing Russian language, Latin types and Swedish political agenda at the end of the 17th century - just before the wars of Peter the Great and Charles XII. Apparently no copy in Russia; this being the second or third copy traced. A fine example.

Image for Tobacco products in Pushkin's Moscow, 1834 #1

Smoking in Pushkin's Russia

[TOBACCO] – ARTO, Amedei

Obiavlenie [Announcement]

Mosk. Vedomosti, Mosk. Universitet, Moskva, 1834. £575

Detailed price list of tobacco products offered in Moscow during Pushkin's time, showing a broad and very international range. A rare, unusual ephemera in excellent, fresh condition.

Chinese tea in Pushkin's Russia

[GASTRONOMY]

Preis-courant neuerhaltener, ausgesuchter, bester Chinesischer Thee die zu haben sind in den Magazinen der Kaufmanns Gregorius Marinin, in St. Petersburg

[Skt. Peterburg], 1843. £2,750

Extremely rare broadside boasting "the all-best" teas from China available at a merchant's in St. Petersburg. The poster contains much interesting information and is illustrated with many Asian scenes. Very fragile but in very good condition.

Image for BRODSKY. A Stop in the Desert. Poster signed by the author. First edition thus, Ardis, 1972. #2

Poetry on the wall - signed by the poet

BRODSKY, Iosif [Joseph BRODSKII] and Jamie FULLER (translator)

A Stop in a Desert

[Ardis, Ann Arbor, 1972]. £950

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.