Lot 223 – Benois, A.N. ‘Tsarskoye Selo in the reign of Empress.’ St. Petersburg: R. Golicke and A. Vilborg, 1910. In burgundy leather palatial binding, decorated with gold stamping on spine and covers. Luxurious, beautifully illustrated edition, published in the best St. Petersburg typography. Anticvarium Auction House
MOSCOW – The theme of world travel is a real sensation in the antiquarian book world, and Anticvarium Auction House’s sale Saturday, Nov. 15, promises to be a grand tour to a bygone era. For those who cannot travel to Russia, LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The organizers have succeeded in selecting outstanding – not only for Russian but also for the world antiquarian market – thematic collection on a popular bibliophilic area – geography and traveling.
Rare books, describing capitals and locations, desirable by many generations of book lovers; albums of villages views; scare books about travels, Russian geographical atlases and other rarities are presented in the auction catalog, which includes nearly 250 lots. Simple enumeration of some lots makes the collector’s heart beat faster.
The sale opens with the famous edition General Geography of Varenius (1716). Among the top lots of the first section are the Joseph de la Porte’s multivolume Worldwide traveller, Abbé Prévost’s Histoire générale des voyages, Collection of maps and drawings … of Capt. Y.F. Lisyansky with his autograph (1812), Atlas to travels of Captain Bellingshausen… (1831), Travel notes on … staying in Ionian Islands in 1835 with the atlas of V.P. Davydov.
Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1550) of Gerberstein, an Austrian diplomat and ambassador to the Grand Prince Vasily III, presented in the section “Rossika,” is the earliest books at the auction. Copies with extant map made by cartographer Jacopo Gastaldi are rare.
Traditional and extensive as usual is the section “Atlases, Albums and Ouvrages” includes more than 50 books, deserving to enrich the most exacting collection. Among them there are Views of the palace, temples, gardens and parks in the village Nadezhdino … (1790), Les peuples de la Russie, Rechberg K. (1812-1813), Collection of views of Gorodnya village and its surroundings (182?), Picturesque Caucasus by Prince Gagarin (1847), and a unique album of watercolors Views and types of Crimea by A. Charlemagne.
Premium rarities also are Views of park at village Shablykino… (1850), Research on the antiquities of southern Russia and the Black Sea coast … and the complementary Collection of maps and drawings … by Count A.S. Uvarov (1851). The section is also presented by probably the only copy of the photo album Types of Podolia and Bessarabia compiled by provincial photographer M.I. Greim (1883).
A special theme of this auction – two Russian capitals and their surroundings. The changing face of Moscow as the old capital city appears in the rarest editions of XVIII – XIX centuries: Historical and topographical description of the capital city of Moscow … by T. Polezhaev (1796), Moscow, historical guide to the famous capital of the Russian state by Guryanov (1827-1831), and Moscow: A detailed historical and archaeological description of the city by Snegirev (1865-1873). The new capital, i.e., St. Petersburg, appears in its entire splendor in the rare bibliophilic edition Memorability of St. Petersburg and its environs by P. Svinyin (1816-1828) in five parts, album Picturesque views of palaces and gardens in the surroundings of St. Petersburg and a luxurious work of A. Benoit Tsarskoye Selo during the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1910).
Additional rarities are Atlas of Russia, consisting of 19 special maps representing Russian Empire … (1745), the first edition of two-volume Description of the Land Kamchatka by S. Krasheninnikov, and Journey of Fleet of Captain Sarychev along the northeastern part of Siberia … (1802). In addition, Anticvarium will present the handwritten atlas – the only copy known to exist –Maps and plans of Sea travel made by Imperial order … by Karelin.
For all questions, contact Anticvarium: tel. +7 (495) 374-5090, +7 (499) 678-2274, e-mail: info@anticvarium.ru.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Lot 223 – Benois, A.N. ‘Tsarskoye Selo in the reign of Empress.’ St. Petersburg: R. Golicke and A. Vilborg, 1910. In burgundy leather palatial binding, decorated with gold stamping on spine and covers. Luxurious, beautifully illustrated edition, published in the best St. Petersburg typography. Anticvarium Auction House Lot 17 – Cook, James, ‘A voyage towards the South Pole, and round,’ in six volumes, St. Petersburg, 1796-1800. Text in Russian. In four leather bindings. Anticvarium Auction House Lot 165 – Views of the Park at the village Shablykino in Orel, St. Petersburg, 1850, 15 hand-colored lithographs. Engraved title page with hand colored. Half leather binding. Anticvarium Auction House Lot 189 -Guryaov, Ivan, ‘Moscow, or historical guide to the …’ Moscow, 1827-1831. Four volumes. Anticvarium Auction House Lot. 55 – Krasheninnikov, Stepan ‘Description of Land Kamchatka,’ in two volumes. St. Petersburg, 1755. Text in Russian. Engraved maps ‘Land of Kamchatka’ and ‘Kuril Islands.’ Two leather bindings and special case. One of the most famous russian books. Anticvarium Auction House
