Recent Arrivals from PY Rare Books

First publication of the poem "Christopher Columbus", illustrated by the famous futurist artist and Maykovsky's friend. One of only three works published by Mayakovsky in the US; scarce: Worldcat locates only four physical copies (Harvard (2), Penn State, University of Notre Dame), to which we can add one copy at RNB and one at the Slavonic Library in Prague. We… Read more about this item

An attracticve example, in original wrappers, of this rare and early study of Turki dialects, produced in China with mimeograph printing. The Scottish missionary and scholar George William Hunter (1873-1949) gained prominence through his service with an evangelical Protestant organisation "China Inland Mission" in Turkestan (modern-day areas in Central Asia and Northwest China). He reached China in 1889 and served in… Read more about this item

First edition, very rare: OCLC locates the Harvard copy only. Nikolai Protasov (1865–1903), an active member of the Eastern Siberian section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, was the first to go about a proper collection of the folk-songs of Siberia. In 1901 he recorded, on a phonograph, almost 150 songs, writing some of them out in notation. It is twenty… Read more about this item

New people's art in striking suprematist wrappers. ***Full description kindly provided on request***

A presentation copy of the first expanded edition, inscribed by Akhmatova to her editor and co-translator, the linguist Aleksandr Kholodovich: 'As a memento of that time when we worked on this book. Amicably, Akhmatova, 15 January 1959'. This edition adds 37 poems to the edition issued in 1956. Akhmatova worked on all 212 poems in this collection: Kholodovich prepared a preliminary… Read more about this item

How to get Ukrainians not to drink vodka? A fine example of this pamphlet of the Soviet all-Union anti-alcohol campaign. Very rare in spite of a large printrun: no copy traced in OCLC, but we could locate two holdings in Russia (RNB, RGB). This original and engaging proclamation by Doctor Barskiy presents carefully selected facts and appeals - with surprising references… Read more about this item

First edition of this depiction of the Russian emigration in Berlin in the Golden Twenties - with a famous cover designed by Lissitzky, and some lovely examples of fine book design. One of the key figures of Russian Formalism, the writer and literary critic Viktor Shklovskii (1893-1984), fearing arrest for opposing the bolsheviks, fled Russia in March 1922. He settled in… Read more about this item

The golden age of children's illustration in Russia: a colorful depiction of the advancements of the Soviet collective farming. First edition, in excellent condition. ***Full description kindly provided on request***

First edition of this last collection of Parnok's poems: a fine copy inscribed by Parnok to the fellow poet Tikhon Churilin (1885-1946) whom the great poetess and Parnok's lover Marina Tsvetaeva also esteemed as a brilliant poet. A member of various circles of Moscow avant-garde artists and poets, including futurists, Churilin had known both women for a decade when this… Read more about this item

Charming Russian émigré children's book, with hand-made block print cover and illustrated by the 10-y. old 'Zheniia' Kovarskaia. The famous children's tale tells the story of a runaway cake that refuses to be eaten. The major publisher of Russian emigré works, philanthropist and Freemason Jacques Povolozky (pseud. for Iakov Efimovich Benderskii, 1881-1945) founded his publishing house in Paris in 1910 with… Read more about this item

Fine example of the first edition of this celebrated artist's work, with the famous cover in fine condition. In 1920, Altman was invited to the Kremlin to create a bronze portrait of Vladimir Lenin. To complete this task, he spent about six weeks with the Bolsheviks' leader, sketching his face and daily routine movements, such as sitting at the desk, reading,… Read more about this item

First edition of this fine and scarce summary of Zionism published in Vilnius, still with its lovely art-nouveau wrapper. ***Full description kindly provided on request***

A fine series of beautiful portraits and scenes taken by one of the most significant female photographers of her time: first edition of this large-format album published to raise funds for the war relief. The work opens with an introduction that stands in contrast to the often-hostile messages propagated against the Soviet Union by the West around World War Two: "The… Read more about this item

This work delves into the infamous case of Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Russian Jew (1874-1934) who stood accused of ritual murder in Kiev in 1911. The prosecution alleged that the murder of the 13-y. old child Iushchinskii was a religious ritual, drawing connections to the blood libel, a widespread legend that many Russians believed during that time. Beilis endured over… Read more about this item

Exhaustive collection of striking, informative, curious and amusing popular Russian prints following the Russo-Turkish and Caucasian wars, but also covering a large variety of subjects in a very graphic way. Rare: we could find only two copies of this album sold in 1975 and 2008 (the latter missing a plate); Worldcat locates only two physical copies (Indiana University, BnF). The so-called lubok,… Read more about this item

Fine copy of this uncommon issue devoted to the USSR, to 'Russia, Russia, Russia', aiming at detailing for the American public still suffering from the 1929 crisis all aspects of Stalinist USSR in the early 1930s. Richly illustrated, the account is wide-ranging, lively and slightly ironic from time to time - of great interest for those interested in the Western… Read more about this item

Very rare: we could not find any examples of Nabokov in samizdat in the West, and only one example of Nabokov's samizdat poetry at auction in Russia. With nice provenance. This samizdat selection of poems by Nabokov from 1918-1939 is copied from the illegal in the USSR, large edition of his collected Russian poems Stikhi [Poetry] (1979, Ardis, Ann Arbor), which was… Read more about this item

Great two-volume émigré collection of poetry and analysis, in an attractive example in the original wrappers. The first volume is a roll call of major émigré names, from Remizov, through Kuprin, to Teffi; it also contains one of the earliest, if not the earliest appearance of Nabokov's work in the West, published just a few months after he went into exile.… Read more about this item

An attractive, fresh example of this scarce first edition. This is the first book by Nabokov published outside Russia, and his first collection of poems published commercially. Full notice available upon simple request Description Small 8vo (16.2 x 12.2 cm). [3]-64 pp. incl. leaf with publisher's device, title and section title. Binding Original publisher's printed wrappers, with original staples. Condition Wrappers slightly soiled or stained, just a… Read more about this item

The Pantheon of the Silver Age - a complete set. Scarce complete set of all five issues of this important almanac, which printed, often for the first time, the works of censored Russian authors. As a result, it includes most of the best Russian authors and poets of the 20th century. Contents include especially: - Vol. I: Akhmatova, Poema bez geroia [Poem Without… Read more about this item