Very rare books | PY Rare Books

Image for [DATA VIZUALISATION]. Na stroike sotsializma [In the Construction of Socialism]. First edition, Moscow, 1933. #2

Soviet developments visually explained

Na stroike sotsializma. Dostizheniia pervoi piatiletki [In the Construction of Socialism. Achievements of the First Five-Year Plan]

OGIZ-IZOGIZ for Izostat, Moskva, 1933. £13,000

More oil, more cars, less unemployment: a clear visual presentation of Soviet statistics thanks to isotype diagrams. Very rare propaganda and economic work, in fine condition. Only 1 copy traced in Americas, and 2 other ones elsewhere.

Image for L. DORUZKA. The Face of Modern Jazz. Russian version in samizdat. Minsk, 1973. #2

Jazz in Minsk after Duke Ellington's tour

DORUZKA, Lubomir

Litso sovremennogo dzhaza [The Face of the Modern Jazz]

Minsk, 1973. £2,350

Fine samizdat, very rare in Russian, of this important study of jazz in the 60s/70s banned in the USSR. No other copies traced.

Image for MOOR & REMIZOV. Storony nebyvalaia. First edition of the postcards, complete. St. Petersburg, 1917. #3

Colourful fairy tales - just before the Revolutions

MOOR, Dmitrii (artist) and Aleksei REMIZOV

Storony nebyvalaia [Fantastic Land]

Golike i Vilborg, Petrograd, 1917. £1,450

Complete set of these lovely postcards, illustrating Remizov's fairytale and drawn in late 1916 by a future propaganda artist. In fine condition and rather rare, with no other copies traced in Western libraries.

Image for STRIBLING & BARBASHEVA. Drama krovi [Birthright]. First edition in Russian, 1927. Very rare. #2

American racial discrimination brought to the young USSR

STRIBLING, T. S. and V[era] BARBASHEVA (translator)

Drama krovi [Birthright]

Gos. izd., Moskva-Leningrad, 1927. £1,325

First Russian edition of this novel, very rare, with only one copy traced in the US (Princeton).

Image for PLATONOV. Kotlovan. Samizdat version, very rare. USSR, post 1969. #2

Famous banned satire of the Soviet ideal - in rare samizdat

PLATONOV, Andrei

Kotlovan [The Foundation Pit]

[Soviet Union, after 1969]. £1,650

Platonov's celebrated novel here in an interesting samizdat version, bound like a technical documentation. Banned in USSR and very rarely found in samizdat version. With fine provenance.

Image for POLITICAL DICTIONARY. Politicheskii slovar. First edition, St. Petersburg, 1917. #2

As indicated on the title: "necessary to everybody" in 1917

Politicheskii slovar [Political Dictionary]

Svobodnoe slovo, Petrograd, [ca. Oct-Nov. 1917]. £1,950

Fascinating small-format political publication at a key moment of Russian (and world) history, right after the October Revolution of 1917. Surprisingly unbiased and dealing with many subject matters. Only one other copy traced, in St. Petersburg. First and probably only edition.

Image for Monk RAFAIL. Door of Repentance. First edition in Romanian, complete. Brasov, 1812. #2

Striking, innovative plates - a rare edition

RAFAIL, monk (engraver, translator, and editor)

Uşa pocăinţei adecă carte foarte umilitoare… [Door of Repentance. That Is, a Very Humiliating and Very Useful Book for the Soul]

Ioann Fridrich Herfurt, Braşov, 1812. £4,750

A pleasant, complete copy of this beautiful Romanian religious production, apparently the first translation in any language; with unusual, striking plates. Very rare, with no copies traced outside Romania. With feminine provenance.

Image for M. AKIANDER. Rossiiskaia azbuka. Rysk ABC-Bok. First edition, Helsinki, 1831. #2

Russian in Helsinki during Pushkin's time

[AKIANDER, Matthias]

Rossiiskaia azbuka. Rysk ABC-Bok

Helsingfors, J.C. Erenckell & Son, 1831. £3,250

Lovely ABC for Finns to learn Russian - of utmost rarity, with only 3 holdings in Finland, and possibly a copy in Stockholm and one in Russia; nothing else could be traced. With interesting content including Orthodox texts and fables - at the height of Krylov's popularity. This copy with contemporary Swedish-Finnish aristocratic provenance.

Russian freemasons in the UK

[FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND]

Zametki o masonstve [Notes on Freemasonry]

Imprimerie Pascal, Paris for Kruzhok russkikh masonov v Anglii, London, 1928. £295

Very rare edition defending English freemasonry, written by Russians - an unusual case indeed. Apparently no copy in the UK, including the BL and the London Freemasonry Museum.

Image for MILTON & AVAKOV. Paradise Lost, first Georgian edition. Tbilisi, 1904. #2

Paradise Lost in early 20th-c. Georgia

MILTONI, Ioani [John MILTON] and Vartan Bagdasarovich AVAKOV (translator)

Dakarguli samotkhe: pirveli tsol-kmris tskhovreba samotkheshi [Paradise Lost. The Life of the First Husband and Wife in Paradise].

V. B. Avakov, Tbilisi, 1904. £950

Very rare first edition in Georgian of Milton's masterpiece. No other copies traced outside Georgia. A very good example in wrappers.

Image for LERMONTOV. Demon. Second Schneider edition, corrected. Berlin, 1857. In original wrappers. #2

1850s 'tamizdat' of one of the great Russian poems

LERMONTOV, Mikhail Iurievich

Demon

K. Shulttse for Ferdinand Schneider, Berlin, 1857. £9,500

Fine example, in original wrappers, of this major poem by Lermontov, banned in Russia and published in Germany for the first time. All early editions are very rare.

Image for I.I. CHEPIGOVSKII. A Concise Sacred History of...the Old Testament. First edition in the original Ossetian. Vladikavkaz, 1881. #2

With an important inscription by the "Apostle of Ossetia" (Gostieva)

CHEPIGOVSKII, Ivan Ivanovich

Xucav arxivani Ragondini cibir sijdæg istorja [A Concise Sacred History of the Church of God under the Old Testament]

Vladikavkaz, Z.I. Shuvalov, 1881. £3,750

First edition of this very first 'old testament' in Ossetian. A fine example, in wrappers and inscribed by the author to an important local missionary. Very rare, with only one other copy traced (Denmark).

Image for A. V. KAULBARS. Most Ancient Beds of Amu Darya River, in original Russian. First edition. St. Petersburg, 1887. #2

Uzbekistan's famous river - on a 65 cm² map

KAULBARS, Aleksandr Vasilevich

Drevneishiia rusla Amu-Dari [Ancient Beds of the Amu Darya River].

Imper. Akadem. Nauk, Skt. Peterbug, 1887. £650

First edition, very rare, of this geographical and historical study of the Western part of present-day Uzbekistan. Complete with its impressive map of the region.

Our friends the English

Angliia [England]

Obshchestvennaia Polza for Rodnoe Slovo, Moskva, 1914. £450

A lovely, illustrated booklet presenting England as an ally at the beginning of WWI. First edition, in appealing condition, from a reading library with the matching label - and very rare with no copies traced worlwide.

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 O. KEUN. Prince Tariel: A Story of Georgia. First edition. London, 1925 #2

"[One of the] pioneer female travelers to Georgia" (Skinner)

KEUN, Odette

Prince Tariel: A Story of Georgia

Jonathan Cape, London, 1925. £1,750

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!

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)

Login