Saint Petersburg

Paris, Bellizard, Barthès, Dufour and Lowell, 1835-1843. Eighteen octavo text volumes and one folio atlas.

First edition in French of Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall's Histoire de l'Empire ottoman depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours, translated by J.-J. Hellert "from the German, using the author's notes and under his supervision". Publication began in 1835, the same year in which the ten-volume German original was completed, making this the first transmission into French of Hammer's monumental history of the Ottoman Empire. Atabey, 557 for the text and 569 for the atlas; Blackmer, 788 for the atlas; Hage...

Very rare first edition of the Ottoman Turkish translation of Catherine II's new regulations for the administration of the governorates of the Russian Empire, published in Saint Petersburg in 1780.

In the aftermath of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed in 1774, Russian expansion towards the Black Sea could no longer be confined to the seizure of fortresses and territory. The newly acquired provinces had to be governed, their inhabitants introduced to the institutions of the Empire, and its regulations made accessible to populations unable to read Russian. The present volume records this decisive transition from military conquest to civil administration through the...

Second complete edition of Krylov's Fables with a preface by the poet and highly regarded literary critic Piotr Pletnev (1792-1866).

Half tan goatskin binding with corners, smooth spine decorated lengthwise in rocaille style in blind with tears and losses, joints fragile, gilt fillet framing the red pebbled paper boards, gilt Cyrillic inscription at the center of the upper cover, grey edges, rubbed corners, chips and losses along the edges, contemporary binding.

Foxing, library stamps and markings.

Prize book "Pour Succès et Bonne Conduite".

Manuscript ex-libris in ink, in Russian, on the front endpaper, dated Vilnius, 6 August 1857, and on the verso in Latin...

Uncommon first edition, illustrated with historiated initials and 7 plates (see Brunet I, 710).
Not listed in Atabey, Blackmer or Hage Chahine.

Contemporary full marbled tan calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt with floral motifs, joints and spine rubbed with traces of restoration, cherry morocco label, covers framed in triple blind fillet, margins of covers rubbed, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Joints rubbed, corners worn, some foxing.

Rare copy of this historical and numismatic monograph devoted to the small kingdom of Osroene (or Edessa), which long served as a buffer state between the Persian and Roman empires.

Born in Königsberg...

Albumen print, mounted on cardboard with a printed brown ink border  published by the Wesenberg studio in St Petersburg. Tolstoy's name has been stamped in Cyrillic on the verso. Slightly sun-faded, as usual. One spot and a slight white mark to the lower portion.
A handsome copy of this photograph depicting Count Tolstoy in peasant clothing.
 

The first edition, of which there were no large paper copies.
Publisher's grey cloth binding, lacking DJ with a drawing by Modigliani.
An exceptional autograph inscription signed in Russian and dated by Akhmatova on the half-title: “to David Carver, another reminder of the pines of Komarovo, Anna Akhmatova 23 February 1966”.
Single stain to upper cover, the spine slightly sunned, otherwise a very good copy.
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, known as Anna Akhmatova, was without doubt the greatest of the Russian female poets and occupies a place beside Pushkin in the Slavic pantheon, from whom she inherited her evocative force “across time, schools and literary styles”, as well as fame...

Expédition de l'approvisionnement des papiers d'État, Saint-Pétersbourg 1902, 26 x 33 cm, original wrappers

First edition and first print of 9 drawings, 4 of them full page from Ivan Bilibine.
Pleasant and rare copy in this condition.

Ivan Yakovlevitch Bilibine (Иван Яковлевич Билибин 1876-1942) was a painter and illustrator from St Petersburg. Student of the painter Repine, he studied art and worked for two years with him before travelling to Europe. Back to Russia, he founded with Leon Bakst the group Mir Iskousstva (Мир Искусства “The World of Art”), an artistic movement enhancing encounters between artists and writers. From then on, he threw himself...

Expédition de l'approvisionnement des papiers d'État, Saint-Pétersbourg 1901, 26 x 33 cm, stapled
First edition and first print of 8 drawings, 3 of them full page from Ivan Bilibine.
Pleasant and rare copy in this condition.

Ivan Yakovlevitch Bilibine (Иван Яковлевич Билибин 1876-1942) was a painter and illustrator from St Petersburg. Student of the painter Repine, he studied art and worked for two years with him before travelling to Europe. Back to Russia, he founded with Leon Bakst the group Mir Iskousstva (Мир Искусства “The World of Art”), an artistic movement enhancing encounters between artists and writers. From then on, he threw himself into the artistic...