Nagrudnye znaki russkoi armii [Medals of the Russian Military] by Andolenko, S[erge]

Paris: Tanais, 1966. Octavo (25 × 16.5 cm). Original decorative boards; 227, [5] pp. Illustrations throughout. Some hand coloring of medals (likely by Pavel Pashkov) on pp. 29-33, 45, and 199. Very good. First edition of Serge Andolenko's work on Russian medals. The introduction to the text indicates that the book is printed on special stock intended for coloration, with information about original colors for each medal provided in the notes. Our item includes some hand coloring of medals to pp. 29-33, 45, and 199, likely by the former owner, Pavel Pashkov. Pashkov (1895-1974) was a famous collector of Russian military history and co-founder, along with A. A. Stakhovich, of the Obshchestvo liubitelei russkoi voennoi stariny (Society of the lovers of Russian military relics). He was also one of the editors of the journal "Russkaia voennaia starina" (Russian military relics), a White émigré military journal published in Paris in 1947. In 1961 Pashkov published the first ever work on White Army medals, "Ordena i znaki otlichiia Grazhdanskoi voiny 1917-1922 godov," with the English translation ("The White Army's orders and badges in the civil war 1917-1922") appearing in 1983. Pashkov served in the Russian Imperial Army during WWI and later in the White Army in the South of Russia during the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), eventually fleeing Russia through Constantinople and settling in Paris. In exile he befriended such military history experts as General Oznobishin, Colonels von Richter, Popov and Prikhodkin, amassing broad knowledge of military decorations and becoming one of the eminent experts in Russian phaleristics. His library was donated to the Friends of the "Russian Military History" Society in Paris upon his death.