Unusual items Keywords | PY Rare Books

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Image for NASH VESTNIK. Manuscript magazine, unique copy. Soviet Union, 1921-23. #2

Fun, absurd, art and sport in the first years of the URSS

BABKIN K., M. NEKRASOV, A. ALEKSANDROV, V. SVETLISHIN and others

Nash Vestnik. Literaturno-sportivnyi zhurnal Kruzhka Fizicheskogo Razvitiia KFR [Our Newsletter. Literary and Sports Magazine of the Physical Development Club]

£13,500

BABKIN K., M. NEKRASOV, A. ALEKSANDROV, V. SVETLISHIN and others, Nash Vestnik. Literaturno-sportivnyi zhurnal Kruzhka Fizicheskogo Razvitiia KFR

Exceptional manuscript describing sporting and other recreative activities in a small town of Russia immediately after the Civil War. A very entertaining read, mixing much information with humour and many illustrations.

Image for V. BAKHCHANIAN. Zerkalo No.21. First edition, New York, 1975. #2

Americano-Soviet pop art

BAKHCHANIAN, Vagrich (also BAKHCHANYAN)

Zerkalo No.21. Chitat s pomoshchiu zerkala [Mirror #21. Read with a Mirror]

£2,500

BAKHCHANIAN, Vagrich (also BAKHCHANYAN), Zerkalo No.21. Chitat s pomoshchiu zerkala

A booklet of contemporary art by a Ukraine-born Armenian artist, then just recently emigrated to the US. Extremely rare: only copy traced.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Adam & Eva. First version, samizdat, 1960s-70s. #2

Never published in his lifetime

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Adam i Eva. Piesa v 4 aktakh [Adam and Eve. A play in 4 acts]

£1,450

BULGAKOV, Mikhail, Adam i Eva. Piesa v 4 aktakh

The very first, Bulgakov's own version of his dystopian play, here in an attractive, unusual samizdat.

Image for Gd Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich ROMANOV. Musical Sketches, Potpurri. Manuscript, 1888. #2

La Marseillaise, European operas, and romantic Russian songs

[ROMANOV, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich] – TSVETKOV M. and Vasilii KITAEV (artist)

Muzykalnyia stsenki. Popuri [Musical Sketches. Potpourri]

£8,750

[ROMANOV, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich] - TSVETKOV M. and Vasilii KITAEV (artist), Muzykalnyia stsenki. Popuri

An interesting compilation of various international and Russian music, all manuscript, with a lovely watercolour title page and all kept in a refined master binding: a very attractive imperial portfolio made for the Grand Duke. Very rare.

Image for J. WICHSELL. Description of Russia in Swedish. First edition, Stockholm, 1706. #2

A censored work - in amazing condition

[WICHSELL, Jöran]

Beskrifning om Rysslands Belägenhet/ Gräntzor/ Landskaper/ Städer/ Styrelse/ Macht/ Plägseder och andra Beskaffenheter nu för tijden

£2,950

[WICHSELL, Jöran], Beskrifning om Rysslands Belägenhet/ Gräntzor/ Landskaper/ Städer/ Styrelse/ Macht/ Plägseder och andra Beskaffenheter nu för tijden

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

Image for COLLINS, S. Estat présent de la Russie. Edition originale en français, Paris, 1679. #2

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

[COLLINS, Samuel]

Relation curieuse de l'estat present de la Russie

£2,000

[COLLINS, Samuel], Relation curieuse de l'estat present de la Russie

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.

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 […]

£4,250

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 […]

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.

Image for COLLINS, S. Present State of Russia. First edition, London, 1671. #8

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

£3,250

[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

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. Very good example of the first edition.

Image for CHERESHNEV. Kubanets. Two issues, Philadelphia, 1851 & 1953. Very rare magazine. #2

Kuban cossacks émigré in America

CHERESHNEV, V. V. (editor)

Kubanets. Informatsionnyi zhurnal gruppy starshikh ofitserov i obshchestvennykh deiatelei kubantsev v SShA [The Kubanian. Information Journal of a Group of Kuban Senior Officers and Community Leaders in the USA]

£250

CHERESHNEV, V. V. (editor), Kubanets. Informatsionnyi zhurnal gruppy starshikh ofitserov i obshchestvennykh deiatelei kubantsev v SShA

Two issues of a very rare, almost home-made magazine for Russian émigrés in the US.

Image for Russian humorists, New York, 1920. Very rare edition. #2

Russians laughing in New York during the Civil War in Russia

PRUTKOV, Kozma, Dmitrii MINAEV, Anna BARYKOVA, Stepan RUDANSKYI and others

Iumoristicheskii chtets-deklamator. Polnoe sobranie samykh luchshikh stikhotvorenii [Humorous Reader-Reciter. Complete Collection of the Very Best Poems]

£40

PRUTKOV, Kozma, Dmitrii MINAEV, Anna BARYKOVA, Stepan RUDANSKYI and others, Iumoristicheskii chtets-deklamator. Polnoe sobranie samykh luchshikh stikhotvorenii

Small-format émigré edition to make the Russophones in America laugh. Extremely rare: no copy traced except one in St. Petersburg.

Image for PUSHKIN & STALIN. Lukomore. Samizdat, USSR, 1970s #2

The greatest Russian poet and the greatest Soviet dictator...

[PUSHKIN and STALIN]

Lukomore

£100

[PUSHKIN and STALIN], Lukomore

A small leaf containing a funny parody which could send you to a GULAG camp.

Image for ST. PETERSBURG. Address book of the Exchange. 1863. #2

Who's who of one of Russia's main business centres

[SAINT-PETERSBURG] –

Adresnaia kniga Sankt-Peterburgskogo birzhevogo kupechestva, birzhevykh maklerov i brakovshchikov pri Sankt-Peterburgskom porte [Address Book of Saint Petersburg Exchange Merchants, Brokers and Inspectors at the Saint Petersburg Port]

£1,500

[SAINT-PETERSBURG] –, Adresnaia kniga Sankt-Peterburgskogo birzhevogo kupechestva, birzhevykh maklerov i brakovshchikov pri Sankt-Peterburgskom porte

Fine example, in the original boards, of this very rare inventory of the main business actors in Saint Petersburg, the Russian capital, under Tsar Alexander II. No other copy traced outside Russia.

Image for KARNOVICH, E. Bogastva v Rossii. Skt. Peterburg, 1885. #1

The 'Russian oligarchs' of yesterday

KARNOVICH, Evgenii

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

£1,250

KARNOVICH, Evgenii, Zamechatelnyia bogatstva chastnykh lits v Rossii

Fresh example 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 BARSKIY Y. Anti-Alcohol pamphlet in Ukrainian. Kharkiv, 1930. #2

Half their wages into alcohol

Chi dodae sili alkogol? [Does Alcohol Give Strength?]

£350

BARSKIY Y. A, Chi dodae sili alkogol?

Great example of Soviet health propaganda, trying to make Ukrainians more sober. Very rare.

Image for SHANKOVSKY, L. Istoriia UPA. Rare samizdat. #2

Dangerous illegal printing in Soviet Ukraine

[SHANKOVSKY, Lev]

Istoriia UPA [History of the UPA]

£475

[SHANKOVSKY, Lev], Istoriia UPA

Rare example of a Ukrainian samizdat, focusing on the history of its now famous resistance group.

Image for E. POHLIG. Handschriftliche Reisebeschreibung durch Russland. Reichillustriert. 1897-1903. #2

"Die Reise um die Welt ohne Geld"

Zu Fuss: Kreuz und Quer Durchs das Ganze Russische Reich [On Foot: Crisscrossing the Whole Russian Empire]

£1,250

POHLIG, Emil, Zu Fuss: Kreuz und Quer Durchs das Ganze Russische Reich

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.

Image for VOLOSHIN, M. Poems in samizdat, inscribed. Ca. 1961. #2

With a poetic inscription and edits by guardian of the poet's legacy

VOLOSHIN, Maksimilian

[Poetry in Samizdat]

£950

VOLOSHIN, Maksimilian, [Poetry in Samizdat]

Lovely collection of Voloshin's poems, inscribed by his widow to a fellow writer.

Image for KOVARSKAIA, E. Pro Lisu i Kolobok. Paris, 1923 #2

Early talent

KOVARSKAIA, Evgeniia (artist)

Pro Lisu i Kolobok. Russkaia skazka [The Fox and the Little Brown Bun. Russian Fairy tale]

£175

KOVARSKAIA, Evgeniia (artist), Pro Lisu i Kolobok. Russkaia skazka

Lovely small fragile book for children drawn by a child. In fine condition in the publisher's wrappers.

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