Opisanie starinnykh tsarskikh utvarei, odezh, oruzhiia, ratnykh dospekhov i konskogo pribora, izvlechnnoe iz rukopisei arkhiva moskovskoi oruzhennoi palaty

Fresh copy of the uncommon first edition of this encyclopaedia of the Russian Imperial costume. A detailed research on the royal dresses of Russia before Peter the Great, especially during the 17th century, with extensive scholarly remarks and definitions. Finely illustrated, complete first edition; this copy interleaved.

Pavel Savvaitov (1815 - 95) was a Russian philologist, historian and member of the Academy of Science. He started conducting research for this major work already in 1858, using ancient manuscripts and archive materials from the Moscow Armoury. In his work Savvaitov explains names of various pieces of cloth, hats, jewellery, armours, arms and horse harness that were in use in XVI – XVII centuries among Russian tsars, tsarinas and nobility. Of particular interest are his detailed descriptions of the clothing and personal effects of Boris Godunov, Mikhail Fedorovich, Aleksey Mikhailovich and Sofia Alekseevna. A second edition was published posthumously only in 1896.

Most of the work (ca. 200 pages) consists of an 'index' with extensive explanations of names of, fabrics, household utensils, precious stones, and military equipment, already unknown to Savvaitov's contemporaries. These dictionary explanations are illustrated with quotes from chronicles and other Russian texts from the 16th and 17th centuries; they also include foreign words and characters, such as Persian and Mongolian – something possible thanks to the wide-ranging press of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, which printed Savvaitov's work.

It is interesting to note that this dictionary has been interleaved in our copy, probably by the first owner Martynov; a few leaves bear some contemporary handwriting commenting on the content and the definitions.

The appendices include examples of Russian money accounts, detailing terminology and inflation throughout the 17th century, an extract from an inventory book from the late 16th-early 17th century, and two impressively detailed and thorough official statements of dowry from 1712 and 1730. Each lengthy list of items is attested by the brides' fathers and is confirmed with sworn statements from several witnesses.

Rare: OCLC shows no holdings in the US and only four in other locations: University of St Andrews, Royal Danish Library, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and National Library of Poland (without mentioning plates in the collation); the BL has the plates only, without text. The RNB copy (St Petersburg) has only 3 plates, the RGB (Moscow) catalogue does not include any plates in its copy's collation, the Russian Geographical Society's copy also does not have any plates.

Aleksei Martynov was a Moscow city architect and one of the founders of the Moscow Architectural Society. He was also a member of the Moscow Archaeological Society, and author of works on the history of architecture and Moscow studies; he participated in the construction of the Grand Kremlin Palace, and in the restoration and reconstruction of Kremlin cathedrals and royal chambers.

8vo (23 x 14.5 cm); title, 350 pp., t.o.c. leaf, and 13 plates lithographed by N.A. Prokhorov including a frontispiece title and a double-page plate, faint library stamp to verso of title page, pp. 145-321 interleaved, a few of these leaves with hand-written notes, some light occasional browning and the odd minor spot.; contemporary black half roan over green marbled boards, spine with raised bands and direct gilt lettering.

Soloviev 119, № 352