Unusual items | PY Rare Books - Page 5

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Image for GOSPELS in Slavonic, impressively bound with contemporary provenance. #2

Out of stock

A luxurious gift to the local church

[BIBLE, Slavonic] –

Evangelie Iisusa Khrista [Gospels of Jesus Christ]

Moskva, [Synodalnaia tip.], 1791.

Large-format Moscow-printed Gospels in an impressive binding, very well preserved and probably from Ukraine/Western Russia. The binding is especially remarkable for its intricate design on both covers, its detailed contemporary provenance, and its appealing condition.

Image for F. KAFKA. The Trial. Very rare Russian samizdat edition, 1970s. #2

Out of stock

Banned and almost unknown in the USSR

Protsess [The Trial]

[USSR, 1970s].

'The Trial' in fine samizdat: a very rare example of Kafka's circulation in the USSR, when his works were banned there. In fine condition.

Image for C.F. GELLERT. Briefe... Rusian Tsarina's copy, with arms and booklabel. Leipzig, 1763. #2

Out of stock

The Tsarina reads Enlightenment in her mothertongue

GELLERT, Christian Fürchtegott

Briefe, nebst einer praktischen Abhandlung von dem guten Geschmacke in Briefen

Leipzig, Johann Wendler, 1763.

Lovely imperial copy from the Pavlovsk library, with a touching and informative handwritten note. In fine condition.

Image for [JAZZ IN USSR] SAKHAROV G. Jazzy translation. Samizdat, USSR, ca. 1976-80. More than 300 leaves. #2

Out of stock

How Western jazz was reaching Brezhnev's USSR

SAKHAROV, G[ennadii] (editor)

Dzhazovye perevody [...]: Leroi Dzhenkins, "Kompani", Devid Murrei, Dzhorzh Liuis, Giunter Khampel [Jazzy Translations [...]: Leroy Jenkins, "Company", David Murray, George Lewis, Gunter Hampel]

[Soviet Union, ca. 1976-80].

Rare thick Soviet samizdat on Western jazz, giving a glimpse of the material circulated in innovative, underground circles of the late USSR.

Image for [DETECTIVE STORIES] - Nat Pinkerton Korol Syshchikov. Pre-revolutionary Russian edition. St. Petersburg, 1910s. #2

Out of stock

The most famous of Western pulp fiction for Russians

Nat Pinkerton Korol Syshchikov. Nevinno kaznennyi [Nat Pinkerton, King of Detectives. Unfairly Condemned]

Skt Peterburg, Razvlechenie, [1910s].

Very unusual: a pulp fiction booklet, in very good condition, telling the adventures in NYC of the most famous figure in Russian detective literature.

Image for BULGAKOV, M. Samizdat of Sobache Serdtse [Heart of a Dog]. #2

Out of stock

Illegally home-made and in superbly fresh condition

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Sobache Serdtse [Heart of a Dog]

[Russia, 1960s-80s].

Bulgakov's short masterpiece here in 'samizdat' version, ie. typed at home illegally - an unusually fresh example.

Image for NIZAMI, L. SPITZNAGEL and F. CHARMOY. Expedition d'Alexandre le Grand... First edition, St. Petersburg, 1829. #2

Out of stock

European scholars in Pushkin's Russia

NIZAMI GANGAWI, Ilyas Ibn-Yusuf, Louis SPITZNAGEL and François-Bernard CHARMOY

Expédition d'Alexandre le Grand contre les Russes

St. Pétersbourg, C. Hintze, [1829].

Lovely work resulting from, and representative of, an international cooperation in early 19th-c. Russia. First edition, with provenance.

Image for ARTAUD. Dictionaire des Halles. Brussels, 1696. First edition #2

Out of stock

Talks at market stalls in 17th-c. France

[ARTAUD, attributed]

Le Dictionaire des Halles, ou Extrait du Dictionaire de L'Academie Francoise

Bruxelles, Foppens, 1696.

Lovely copy of this scarce book, fascinating for the low-class language and expressions in France during Louis 14th's reign. With provenance.

Image for Old Believers' manuscript Sinodik, Russia, late 18th/early 19th century. #2

Out of stock

More than 120 full-page watercolours for some great edifying stories

[OLD BELIEVERS]

[Sinodik]

[Russian Empire, late 18th-early 19th-century].

The Afterllife and its wonders in original watercolours: a wealthy visual catalogue for Russian Old Believers, remarkable for the large quantity of full-page images - one on every leaf.

Image for GONCHAROV. Kak bylo v staroi Rossii. First edition, California, 1972. #2

Out of stock

Nostalgia of pre-Soviet Russia...

Kak bylo v staroi Rossii [How It Was in Old Russia]

Kaliforniia, 1972.

Another émigré work with a wide variety of texts, articles, memoirs about the good old Russia before the Bolsheviks.

Image for L. IAKOBZON. Sexual Disorders in Men. First edition, in the original Russian, Leningrad, 1926. #2

Out of stock

Probably the first such work on the subject in Russia and the USSR

IAKOBZON, Liudvig Iakovlevich

Polovye rasstroistva u muzhchin: polovoe bessilie, muzhskoe besplodie, polovye izvrashcheniia [Sexual Disorders in Men: Sexual Impotence, Male Infertility, Sexual Perversions]

Krasnyi Pechatnik for Praktich. Meditsin, Leningrad, 1926.

Very rare first edition of this study covering many aspects, with few taboos and much nuance - a surprisingly complete, scholarly and cultured work on the subject. Of great rarity: no other copy traced.

Image for Ukrainian literary almanac, Lervak, first edition, 1852 #2

Out of stock

Literary identity in Western Ukraine

Pavel LEONTOVICH and others

Lervak z nad Siana

Knigopechatnia sobornoi ruskoi Kapituly, Peremyshl, 1852.

An extremely rare and fascinating book related to the national identity of Western Ukraine, through language and literature.

Image for OLD BELIEVERS. Zhitie...Vasiliia. Slavonic manuscript, Western Russia, late 18th century. #2

Out of stock

After-death trials with demons in vivid colours

[OLD BELIEVERS]

Zhitie prepodobnago ottsa nashego Vasiliia novago spisannoe Grigoriiem ouchenikom ego [Life of Our Father Basil the Younger recounted by his Student Gregory]

[Western Russia, late 18th century].

Beautiful, richly illustrated Old-Believer manuscript, with an unusual style and unusual pinholes in the images. A fine item in its first binding.

Image for ROMANOVS. Miniature photo album. 1913. #2

Out of stock

A jewel of a book

Miniature Photographic Album

[Moskva or Skt. Peterburg, 1913].

Lovely 'book' boasting a luxurious binding with, inside, portraits of all rulers of the Romanov dynasty of Russia. Very unusual, especially complete.

Image for AKHMATOVA. Poema bez geroia. Samizdat in unusual binding. c. 1968. #2

Out of stock

Great Akhmatova's memorabilia

AKHMATOVA, Anna

Poema bez Geroia. Triptikh. 1940-1962. Leningrad-Tashkent-Moskva [Poem Without a Hero. Triptych. 1940-1962. Leningrad-Tashkent-Moscow]

[Moskva?, 1968?].

An interesting and very unusual item: a samizdat copy of Akhmatova's masterpiece, bound in the poetess' dress, with a lengthy inscription detailing part of the provenance.

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

Out of stock

Americano-Soviet pop art

BAKHCHANIAN, Vagrich (also BAKHCHANYAN)

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

Niu Iork, 1975.

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

Out of stock

Never published in his lifetime

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

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

[Soviet Union, 1960s-70s].

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

Image for E. MILLS. Photographic Album of a UNRRA Camp. 1940s. #2

Out of stock

Personal memories of a UNRRA camp officer

MILLS, Edwin (compiler, photographer)

[Album of Photographs of a UNRRA Camp, its Employees and Refugees, in 1945-c.1947]

"Dept of Works, Woomera West South Australia", [late 1940s?].

Extensive photographic documentation of the life of a UNRRA camp officer in the aftermath of WW2 in Germany - with other ephemera and documents.

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