Romanovs (11 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Used.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 147 pages. Illustrated. Richard Dalby "The Illustrated Books of Edmund Dulac" /R M Healey "Geoffrey Grigson" / Richard Dalby "Richard Matheson" / June Hopper "The 'Babar' Books" / M R Jones "The Fall Of The Romanovs" / David Whitehead "The Novels Of Benjamin Disraeli" / Hilary Jordan "'The New Yorker'".…

Condition: Very Good. 10 pages. This is an original article separated from an issue of The Book & Magazine Collector publication. An authentic standalone article, extracted from a larger volume. Not a reprint or reproduction, but an original work in its own right. Preserved in a modern card cover, prepared for practicality - an unassuming but serviceable presentation that favours function over finery. Size: 14 x 21 cms. Category: Book & Magazine Collector; Cosmo Books : 29 years on ABE, 47 years taking care of customers. A bookseller you can rely on. Softcover (Booklet - Unbound Pages). …

First edition 542pp illust., ex libris (usual cancellation stamps, pockets etc.) fair (rubbed, corners bruised, front fore-edges sl chipped, sl sunned spine, internally reinforced at hinges w. tape, some pages lightly thumbed).

Early photographic album --- Early use of photography in Russian publishing: the first edition of a luxury album of photographic portraits of the Russian dynasty, in a richly-decorated, full morocco binding. Extremely rare: there was a second edition the year after, with a more modest title page and much more common, published in Tsarskoe Selo by Shvarts, who also published a 80-cm poster with all 53 portraits on it. We could trace other versions of the work, with minor, varied differences - but all published later. We couldn't trace any copy of this edition passing through the trade, including in Russia. No holding in WorldCat and only two copies in Russian libraries. The thick album unites 53 Russian monarchs' portraits made in a gentle halftone phototype technique, beginning with the ancestor of the Russian princely dynasty of the Ruriks and ending with Aleksandr II, the current tsar at the time of publication. The portraits were photographically reproduced after drawings by the artist P. Lebedev, who signed them. However and strangely enough we couldn't find much information about this Lebedev. Pasted on thick plates, each portrait is placed within an ornamental gilt frame, above the name and dates of the ruler, also in gilt, in Russian and French. Notably, Aleksandr's portrait in our copy is different from the two other copies we could find (GPIB and Eltsin Library, whose portrait is in fact a photograph from life). The portrait in the GPIB copy is also used in some of the copies of the second edition we could find on the market in Russia. The binding's upper board boasts a composition known as the 'Millennium of Russia', the first monument to the Russian State, erected in 1862 in Velikii Novgorod. Shaped like a bell, the monument is topped with the allegory of Christian Orthodoxy: an Angel supporting a cross and blessing a kneeling woman in a Russian national costume as she leans on a shield with the Russian coat of arms. The middle tier is occupied by six sculptural groups symbolising different periods in the history of Russia: the Foundation, Christianisation, Expulsion of the Mongols, Foundation of an independent Russian Tsardom, Enthronement of the Romanov dynasty, and Creation of the Russian Empire. This highly symbolic binding puts forward the last event: Peter the Great with an Angel pointing the way northwards, to the place of the future St. Petersburg. At Peter's feet is a kneeling Swede symbolising Russian victory in the Great Northern War. The monument is placed within a gilt neo-byzantine frame, adorned with the double-headed eagle, coat of arms of Moscow (St George defeating the dragon), Monomakh's Cap, imperial crowns, and the dates 862 and 1862. The richly decorated -and gilt- chromolithographic title echoes the silhouette of the monument and the frame; it seems that the title is specific to this edition. Provenance: Physical description:Folio (29 x 22.4 cm). Title on board chromolithographed in red and gold by I. Braun, 27 cardboard plates with 53 photographic portraits (13.3 x 9.4 cm), one a page, pasted within gilt ornamental frames, captioned in gilt in Russian and French. Contemporary (publisher's?) full crushed brown morocco, flat spine with blind fillets, upper cover with blind-stamped centrepiece, gilt ornamental frame and gilt lettering, lower cover with blind-stamped fillets, white moiré endpapers, metal clasp, all edges gilt, all boards bound with cloth stubs. Condition:Binding a bit rubbed and scratched, block shaken, clasp missing; some soiling or staining, mostly marginal, occasionally stronger, first plate with small wormtrack in margin and outer edge with abrasion, occasional small foxing to portraits, the last one stained. Bibliography.…

Fine stipple-engraved portraits --- Fine example of these celebrated portraits, here kept in their original printed boards and complete with both title pages and both subscribers' lists, mentioning only 329 copies, including most European royalty. With the Duchesse de Berry ex-libris. Painted on enamel at the height of Alexander I's reign, soon after his victory over Napoleon, these portraits are the most famous work of the French artist Benner (1776-1836), a pupil of Isabey and employed by the Russian nobility in Warsaw and St. Petersburg. They show the Tsar's ancestors and own close family and were published on the initiative of Prince Lobanov-Rostovskii. Provenance: Duchesse de Berry, Bibliothèque de Rosny (bookplate to upper cover, possibly added later). Physical description:Folio. Title in Russian, title in French, 24 portrait plates after Benner,stipple-engraved mostly by Joseph Mecou, also by Charles Johannot, Antoine Jean Baptiste Coupé and Friedrich John, all with printed captions in Russian and French, subscribers' lists in French and in Russian xii and x pp. Original publisher's printed boards, one cover printed in Russian, the other in French. Condition:Boards rubbed and soiled, spine renewed; minor rare spotting, Russian list of subscribers a bit browned, otherwise fresh internally. Bibliography:Lipperheide Kaa 33 (incompl.); Thieme/B. III, 332; Vereshchagin 801; Obolianinov 159; this edition not in Gubar.…

Inscribed by the liberated serf to the Tsar's natural daughter --- A touching, beautiful link between the popular cult of the Tsar-Martyr and Alexander II's own family: a fine volume of three commemorative works celebrating the life of Alexander II, inscribed by the author, a former serf-turned-poet, to the Tsar's natural daughter - with a supplementary autograph poem. The recipient of this Sammelband was Olga Aleksandrovna Iurevskaia (1873-1925), Tsar Alexander II's natural daughter from his mistress Ekaterina Dolgurukaia, whom he married in 1880 just a year before his assassination. Olga mostly lived in France and Germany, especially after having married a German count and grandson of Pushkin in 1895. Shvetsov must have given this volume himself to Olga, since the autograph poem he added is located and dated Lucerne, 12 May 1888. Gordei Mikhailovich Shvetsov (1838-after 1906) was a former serf from the Perm region of Siberia, who had himself benefited from Alexander II's social and educational reforms. He describes himself in the first work and on the (gilt) cover as a "common man", and he is now seen as one of the first Russian popular writers consciously claiming to represent the view from below. The volume comprise three works, separately published (see list at end). The first, main work consists of 16 poems dedicated to the memory of Alexander II, accompanied by several pages of explanatory text. These popular verses, written following Alexander's assassination in 1881, were intended to express the feelings of the people about the loss of their beloved Tsar. Shvetsov repeatedly compares Alexander II to Christ, casting him as a martyr-hero who sacrificed himself for the good of the country. The poems proved hugely popular among the public, and according to the historian Richard Wortman "Shvetsov's stanzas expressed the beginnings of a popular cult of Alexander II, which spread in subsequent years." (Scenarios of Power Vol.2, p.200). Seven thousand copies of the first two editions, subsidised by private donations, were distributed within two months of the assassination; the present example is from the 9th edition. The second work, here in first edition, follows in a similar vein, comprising two poems praising Alexander, the first dealing with the celebrated Emancipation Act, and the second the building of the Church of Christ the Saviour in his memory. These are followed by an appeal by Shvetsov to buy his work, the profits from which were to go towards building and decorating the Church, which marks the place where the Tsar was fatally wounded. The final work marks a contrast with the two previous ones: it contains an allegorical poem about "the White Eagle and the British Whale" detailing the rivalry between the Russian and British Empires - towards the end of the 'Great Game'. It is not credited, but is also by Shvetsov. All three works were intended for mass publication among the lower orders, who still held the Tsar in the highest regard. They reflect the huge rise in literacy during the second part of the nineteenth century and also the search for a popular literature that might both educate and entertain the masses. They are: Venok tsariu-velikomucheniku, bezsmertnomu osvoboditeliu Russkikh krestian i slavianskikh narodov Khristoliubivomu Vserossiskomu Gosoduariu Imperatoru Aleksandru II Blagoslovennomu Velichaishemu iz monarkhov vsego mira nezabvennomu drugu chelovechestva. [A Wreath for the Great Martyr-Tsar, the Eternal Liberator of the Russian Peasants and Slavic Peoples, the Blessed All-Russian Blessed Sovereign Emperor Alexander II, the Greatest Monarch in the World and Never-to-be-forgotten Friend of Humanity."]. Vechnaia slava Tsariu-osvoboditeliu. [Eternal Glory to the Tsar-Liberator]. Dve basni Diadi Gordeia. [Two Fables of Uncle Gordei]. Very rare outside Russia: none of these editions could be traced in WorldCat, and no work at all by Shvetsov appeared at auction nor on the market in recent decades. We c.…

With the gilt cover in fine condition --- Attractive, luxury production focusing on the infancy and youth of the Russian tsars, from Peter the Great to Alexander III, through a wealth of illustrations and some historic documents. Rare as here with the original binding in fresh condition. A theatre and art historian, Bozherianov (1852-1919) also published a few books commemorating Russia's achievements, including the completion of the Romanovs' 300-year reign in 1913. This work, the first for this subject matter, was published to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Tsesarevich Aleksei Nikolaevich, the elder son of Nikolai II and last heir to the Russian crown. He is represented a few times in the book, including in photographs with the rest of his family - rather touching as four years later, the Tsesarevich would be killed by the Bolsheviks, with most of those shown in the book. Provenance: Avenir Nizoff (émigré, pianist, who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature). Physical description:Folio (37 x 28.5 cm). Title richly ornamented signed TN and printed in red, black and gold, with large publisher's label pasted to verso, IV pp., [2] ll. of plates printed by Golike & Vilborg with tissue guards, 128 pp., with 2 plates and 4 plates of facsimile on different paper, many illustrations in text, including some full-page, head- and tail pieces printed in red, black and gold, the first in blue, black, yellow and gold with large portrait medallion. Original publisher's green cloth, flat spine lettered in gilt, upper cover richly decorated in gilt red and black, printed portrait in medallion, patterned endpapers. Condition:Spine rubbed with gilt oxydized, covers very lightly rubbed; light dampstain to upper margins, causing some spotting around the facsimile plates, otherwise a fine, fresh example. Bibliography:Bibliokhronika I, 159.…

From baptism to wedding --- Attractive group of ceremonials, including a rare luxury full cream calf binding gilt, with purple silk pastedowns, most probably from a close member of the Imperial family. This attractive, high-quality binding adorns the process of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna's wedding to Prince Nicholas of Greece. On August 16 (29), 1902, in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna (1882 -1957), the only daughter of Grand Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, married Prince Nicholas of Greece (1872-1938) son of the King of the Hellenes George I and Queen Olga Konstantinovna. Both Elena and Nicholas were first cousins of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Known as "Greek Nicky", to distinguish him from his paternal first cousin Nicholas II, Prince Nicholas was a talented painter, often signing his works as "Nicolas Leprince". Along with his elder brothers Constantine and George, Nicholas helped to organize the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the first to be held since 393. The three other ceremonials cover important family events of Russia's ruling family: the baptism of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the youngest daughter of Tsar Alexander III, in 1882; the 'entrance into adulthood' on St. George's day of a first cousin of the same tsar, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich then aged 20, in 1889; and the wedding of Sergei's brother, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, with Alexander III's daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, who would manage to flee revolutionary Russia to eventually settle in the UK. Provenance: Physical description:Four volumes large 8vos (32 x 21 cm). I. Vysochaishe utverzhdennyi tseremonial brakosochetaniia Eia Imperatorskago Vysochestva Velikoi Kniazhny Eleny Vladimirovny s Ego Korolevskim Vysochestvom Korolevichem Nikolaem Grecheskim. 1-12 pp. in Russian, 1-11 pp. in French. Title pages are pp. 1. II. Cérémonial approuvé par sa majesté l'Empereur pour la solennité du mariage [du] Grand-duc Alexandre Mikhailovitch et la Grande-duchesse Xénie Alexandrovna. 1-9pp. including title, in French. III. Vysoch. utverzhd. tseremonial o sv. kreshchenii Ee Imp. Vysoch. Gos. Velik. Kniazhny Olgi Aleksandrovny. In Russian [1-6pp. including title] and French [1-6pp. including title. IV. Vysoch. utverzhd. tseremonial torzhestv. vykhoda v Zimnem Dvortse, 26 noyabrya 1889 goda po sluchayu Ordenskogo prazdnika Sv. Velikomuchenika i Pobedonostsa Georgiia i prisiagi Velik. Kn. Sergiia Mikhailovicha, prinosimoi pri torzhestv. obiavlenii sovershennoletiia Ego Imp. Vysochestva. 1- 7pp. including title. I. Original cream card wrappers with gilt Russian Imperial double-headed eagle on upper cover, silk spine, within full soft cream calf folder with gilt Russian Imperial double-headed eagle and gilt borders to upper cover, gilt borders and magenta silk panels to pastedowns. II-IV. Original red cloth, gilt borders and Russian Imperial eagle to upper cover, red silk ribbon. Condition:Some staining and wear, one cloth with larger waterstain to upper cover. Bibliography.…

Buch. Condition: Neu. This item is printed on demand - it takes 3-4 days longer - Neuware 345 pp. Russisch.

Buch. Condition: Neu. nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering.