Unusual items | PY Rare Books

Image for [POSTCARD]. For a Sovereign Ukraine...! New York, 1951. #2

Out of stock

A topical ephemera

Za suverennu Ukrainu i rozpodil Rosiiskoi imperii! For a Sovereign Ukraine and the Dismembering of the Russian Empire!

G. U. SUMA, New York, 1951.

Great and unusual US-printed postcard for Ukrainian independance from the Soviet Union, shown as an extension of the Russian empire.

Image for SHAKESPEARE & GOLDBERG, Romeo and Juliette in Yiddish, first edition, Minsk, 1935; inscribed. #2

Out of stock

First in Yiddish - inscribed

SHAKESPEARE, William and I. GOLDBERG (translator)

Romeo un Zshulyete: tragedya in finf aktn [Romeo and Juliet: the Tragedy in Five Acts]

Minsk, Melukh-farlag fun Vaysrusland. Natssekter, 1935.

Lovely example of a rare book: the first 'Romeo and Juliet' published in Yiddish, here in fine condition and inscribed by the translator to a famous Yiddish author and professor.

Image for Procession funèbre [...] du corps de feu l'Empereur Alexandre I. Lithographed roll, first edition, 1826. #2

Out of stock

Unexpected early use of lithography in Russia - for an "an extremely tedious enterprise"

[ALEXANDER I]

Procession funèbre qui doit avoir lieu lors de la translation du corps de feu l'Empereur Alexandre I, de glorieuse mémoire, de la barrière de St Petersbourg à l'Eglise cathédrale de Notre-Dame de Cazan et le jour son inhumation dans l'Eglise cathédrale de Saint Pierre et Saint Paul

[Saint Pétersbourg?, 1826].

A great, very unusual printed artefact: an early example of Russian lithography in form of a long roll, giving extensive illustrated details on the future funeral of the tsar. Very rare.

Image for G.W. HUNTER. Turki Dialects. First edition, Ürümqi, 1918. #2

Out of stock

Central Asian languages printed and bound in chinese style

HUNTER, George W

Examples of the Various Turki Dialects. Turkish Text with English Translation

China Inland Mission, Tihwafu Sinkaing [ie. Ürümqi], 1918.

An unusual book: produced by a Scottish protestant in Western China, printed in mimeography and detailing and translating many Central Asian dialects related to Turkish. First edition of this remarkable item, here in appealing condition.

Image for F. RASKOLNIKOV. Otkrytoe pismo Stalinu. Samizdat, 1960s-70s. #2

Out of stock

A Soviet ambassador against Stalin

RASKOLNIKOV, Fedor

Otkrytoe pismo Stalinu [An Open Letter to Stalin]

[Soviet Union, 1960s-70s].

Samizdat copy of a sharp criticism of Stalin's regim. Rare and dangerous in the USSR.

Image for BILIBIN. Menu for an imperial military dinner, St. Petersburg, 1910. #2

Out of stock

Bilibin works for the Tsar and his dinner

BILIBIN, Ivan (artist)

Uzhin 28 Marta 1910 [Dinner on 28 March 1910]

[Skt. Peterburg, 1910].

Fine example of this very rare Russian imperial menu, drawn by one o fthe greatest illustrators and artists of the time in Russia.

Image for WEIZMANN, Chaim. Before the United Nations. First edition, inscribed. 1947. #2

Out of stock

Inscribed by the first president of Israel

WEIZMANN Chaim

Before the United Nations. A Plea for a Just Solution of the Problem of Palestine

Overbrook Press, Stamford CT, 1947.

Rare first edition of this speech, finely inscribed by Weizmann.

Image for BAKHAREV - MAKHNOVETS, V. Kak derzhat sebya na doprosakh. Geneva, 1900; first edition. #2

Out of stock

Getting ready...

BAKHAREV V. [pseud. for Vladimir Petrovich MAKHNOVETS]

Kak derzhat sebia na doprosakh [How to Conduct Oneself During Interrogations]

Zheneva, Soiuz Russkikh Sotsialdemokratov, 1900.

A practical handbook for revolutionaries caught by the tsarist authorities - pretty unusual theme and rare on the market. Attractive example of the first edition, with provenance.

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

Out of stock

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]

Philadelphia, 1951 and 1953.

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

Out of stock

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]

Russkoe Narodnoe Izd. Obshchestvo, Niu Iork, 1920.

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

Out of stock

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

[PUSHKIN and STALIN]

Lukomore

[Soviet Union, mid-20th century].

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

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

Out of stock

The 'Russian oligarchs' of yesterday

KARNOVICH, Evgenii

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

Sankt Peterburg, Suvorin, 1885.

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

Out of stock

Half their wages into alcohol

BARSKIY, Y. A

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

Kharkiv, Naukova Dumka, 1930.

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

Image for [OLD BELIEVERS] - MIATELKOV, F.P. Sviattsy. Manuscript dated 1887. Complete #2

Out of stock

Finely handwritten and illuminated by a "peasant scribe and artist"

[OLD BELIEVERS] – MIATELKOV, Fedor Petrovich

Sviattsy [Religious Almanac]

Vasilevo-Slobodskaia, Nizhegorod. gub., 1887.

Complete with bold miniatures and ornaments: a fine Old-Believer manuscript, signed by the scribe and artist. With contemporary provenance.

Image for NABOKOV, Vl. Poetry in samizdat, very rare. 1970s. #3

Out of stock

Nabokov the Poet – Home-made and illegal in Russia

NABOKOV, Vladimir

Stikhi [Poetry]

[USSR, 1970s].

Some of Nabokov's most scandalous poems, of course banned in Soviet Union and here in an illegal "edition" home-made in Brezhnev's USSR. Very rare.

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

Out of stock

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

VOLOSHIN, Maksimilian

[Poetry in Samizdat]

[Crimea?, ca. 1961].

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

Image for HEFFTER & TAUBE. Evropeskoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo. First Russian edition. Skt. Peterburg, 1880. #2

Out of stock

A European bestseller twice inscribed

GEFTER, Avgust Vilgelm [August Wilhelm HEFFTER] and Konstantin TAUBE (translator)

Evropeiskoe mezhdunarodnoe pravo [European International Law]

Bezobrasov, Skt. Peterburg, 1880.

Important legal treatise, here in a fine example of its first Russian edition, inscribed by the translator to his wife, and later to his son.

Image for LIFAR, S. Diagilev i s Diagilevym. First edition, large-paper copy, Paris, 1939. #1

Out of stock

Exceptionally large paper - inscribed

LIFAR, Serge

Diagilev i s Diagilevym [Diaghilev, and with Diaghilev]

Berezniak for Dom knigi, Paris, 1939.

A bibliophile's pleasure (and definitely Lifar was one!): an extra-large paper copy of his standard work on Diaghilev, one of 15 ad nominem copies, warmly inscribed to the wife of a leading Russian publisher and bookdealer in Paris. An exceptional example.

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