Superb set of very rare military tables in fine manuscript and gouache with gold and silver highlights. Of probable imperial provenance.
BOROVYKOVSKY, Levko [and Amvrosy METLINSKY]
Baiky i Prybaiutky [Fables and Sayings]
A book as we like them: with many varied interesting aspects! First edition of very early fables & proverbs in Ukrainian, with an important preface defending the Ukrainian language; one of only 16 books in Ukrainian published during 7 years, and the only lifetime collection of the author. A beautiful copy, withb fine provenance. And very rare, with only 2 instutitional copies outside Russia/Ukraine.
![Image for [ARMENIAN CALLIGRAPHY]. A. PALCHEAN. Vayelchʻagrutʻiwn. First edition, Vienna, 1838. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3331_1-300x211.jpg)
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.
Suppressed and very rare first edition of this novel, written by an adventurous woman travelling in troubled times. Great book by a fascinating woman and a nice copy of it!
[DALI] – ARRABAL, Fernando and Julius BALTAZAR [pseud. for Hervé LAMBION] (artist)
Cinco sonetos
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)
A superb, innovative and fascinating publication, detailing and representing the statistics of what was becoming the largest railway network in the world. With 16 large flow maps, the first in the Russian empire. Extremely rare first edition, with no copies traced in Russia nor in the USA.
SINIAKOVA, M[ariia] (artist) and S[ofia] FEDORCHENKO
Dobryi son [Kind Dream/Nice Sleep]
Very rare first edition of this children book: no copies traced outside Russia. A fine collaboration of two women active in circles of the Russian avant-garde.
REND, Ain [Ayn RAND; pseud. for Alisa ROZENBAUM] and D[mitrii] KOSTYGIN (translator)
Istochnik [The Source; ie. The Fountainhead in Russian translation]
Very rare first edition of 'The Fountainhead' in Rand's native language, Russian. No copies traced at auction, even in Russia; only two in libraries, none in America. A beautiful example.
![Image for LIUBAVINA & DUBOVNA. Mat' [Mother]. First edition, with original hand-colour. St. Petersburg, 1918. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2179_1-300x401.jpg)
LIUBAVINA, Nadezhda Ivanova (artist) and Sofiia DUBNOVA
Mat [Mother]
Fine Russian children book from the avant-garde publisher, here in the preferred version with original hand-colour: one of only 125 copies.
A rare gathering of essays and articles considering which future Ukraine should reach, written by a major figure of newly created Ukrainian state, published in the famous year of 1917. Rarely found, and here in fantastic condition in spite of their fragility.
Extremely rare lithographed plates with original hand-colour, mostly showing officers' costumes of the Russian Imperial Guard. A complete copy, in attractive condition.
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).
![Image for [BAIRD] The St. Petersburg Steamboat. Large lithograph before the letter, contemporary hand-colour. 1830s #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/1925_1-300x205.jpg)
[BAIRD, Charles] – SUHR, Peter (artist, attrib. to)
Das St. Petersburger Dampfschiff [in pencil] [The St. Petersburg Steamboat]
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.
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).
Very rare small-format school atlas showing the development of the Russian Empire during 1000 years, and its extent at its height. With original hand-colour. No other physical copies traced, 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).
![Image for [J.G. SPARWENFELD]. Placzewnaja recz... First edition, Stockholm, 1697. #2](https://www.pyrarebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/3138_1-300x375.jpg)
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.
A very rare and unusual publication during the Cossack enthusiasm in the UK following Napoleon's failure in Russia. Apparently no copies in America, only 3 in the British Isles and none at auction in the past 50 years.