Very rare first Russian edition of Walter Scott's Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk in Russian, published at the height of Pushkin's fame. No copy traced in the UK nor the USA.
PLATON [Petr LEVSHIN, later Metropolitan of Moscow]
Pravoslavnoe uchenie ili sokhrashchennaia khristianskaia bogosloviia, dlia Ego Imperatorskago Vysochestva … Tsesarevicha i Velikago Kniazia Pavla Petrovich.. [Orthodox Teaching, or Christian Theology Abridged, for His Imperial Highness…the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich].
First edition of this Catechism for Tsarevich Pavel, the "first textbook of Orthodox theology in Russia" by an important religious figure of 18th-c. Russia, whom Voltaire called "the Russian Plato". Very rare: no copy at auction and only 3 copies in libraries outside Russia.
IAZVINSKII, Aleksandr [actually Anton] Feliksovich
Sinkhronicheskiie tablitsy vseobshchei istorii, ukrashennyie 1500 portretami, sniatymi s medalei, sluzhashchiie k Khronograficheskomu atlasu A. Iazvinskogo [Synchronous Tables of the World History, decorated with 1,500 portraits copied from medals. A supplement to the chronographic atlas by A.Iazvinskii]
Very rare 'atlas' teaching world history without words, purely with images and visual memory: a very innovative teaching method in 19th-c. Russia, Poland, and Europe.
Six languages with 5 different fonts: a rare introduction to biblical story for children, printed on blue paper a lovely copy.
LORENS, D. G. [D. H. LAWRENCE] and Tatiana LESHCHENKO (transl.)
Liubovnik ledi Chatterlei [Lady Chatterley's Lover]
First edition in Russian of Lawrence's famous scandalous work, banned in the UK, USA and Soviet Union. An early translation by a talented Russian woman who went from Moscow to New York and to the GULAG (in that order), and inspired Solzhenitsyn. A lovely example, and very rare: no copy in Russian libraries, none in the UK, only two traced in WorldCat (Princeton and Syracuse).
Charming early Soviet ABC by a noted artist of natural history, in excellent condition and very rare: we could trace only one copy at auction (in Russia) and one in a public library (in Russia too).
Very rare early Uzbek publication: a lovely association copy of the first edition, inscribed by the author to an important Russain official in Turkestan. This travel account in the heart of Russian Central Asia contains fascinating details on the economy of the region, especially in the Fergana valley in the Arslanbob mountains, famous for its important walnut forest. No other copy traced.
