Fresh copy of the uncommon first edition of this encyclopaedia of the Russian Imperial costume.

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 tzars, tzarinas and nobility. Of particular interest are his detailed descriptions of the dresses and private things of Boris Godunov, Mikhail Fedorovich, Aleksey Mikhailovich and Sofia Alekseevna. Text is accompanied by twelve illustrations showing details of cloths. Second edition was published posthumously only in 1896.

Rare: not in RNB, copy in RGB has text only; WorldCat locates only one copy outside Russia.

Octavo (23 x 14.5 cm). Title, 350, title of "Chin....", 17 pp., lithographed title, 12 plates, including one folding; occasional light spotting. Contemporary green morocco over marbled boards, gilt lettering to spine; worn, upper spine slightly chipped.

Soloviev 119, № 352