Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebräuche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen,

First edition of these uncommon lively hand-coloured scenes. The artist Geissler (1770-1844), who accompanied Peter Simon Pallas on his expedition to southern Russia from 1793 to 1794, created these forty engravings after the sketches which he made during his long trip.

The first part of the work is dedicated to Russian festivities and games, which provided foreigners with probably the most detailed insight into this sphere of Russian people's life at that time. Curiously, in most of his illustrations Geissler adopted a grotesque manner, depicting the characters with slightly distorted proportions of the body and apparent naivety. The predominance of scenes of leisure and games in the work contributes to the impression that Geissler intended to portray Russia as an exotic place left behind the progress and cultural development of the Western world - which was a reason behind Catherine the Great's bad opinion of Geissler's sketches.

First edition, 4 parts in one vol., 4to, text in French and German; x, 28, [4], [29]-64, [6], [65]-100, [6], [101]-142 pp, with 40 oval aquatint plates in contemporary hand colour; occasional spotting, some light water-staining, a few plates with sky oxidised, contemporary

Lipperheide 1344; Colas 1208; Rumann, 19. Jh. 505 (20 Taf.); Cat. Russica G 277; Hiler, H. Bibliography of costume, p. 358; E.A. Vishlenkova "Vizualnoe narodovedenie imperii, ili "Uvidet russkogo dano ne kazhdomu" (Novoe literatunoe obozrenie, 2011).