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69 - [RUSSIA] - LECOINTE DE LAVEAU (Georges). A traveller's guide…
See original version (French)

Estimate €700 - €900
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Description
[RUSSIA] - LECOINTE DE LAVEAU (Georges). A traveller's guide to Moscow, containing the history of this city, a description of its monuments, its churches, its civil and military establishments, its factories, as well as the surrounding area; followed by an itinerary of the main roads in Russia. A rare and precious first guide to Moscow published in French, documenting the city's rebirth after the fire of 1812. Moscow, Auguste Semen, Printer of the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy, 1824. One volume in-8 (234 x 155 mm). Paperback, in its original heavy paper cover decorated with an elegant lace frame and a vignette on the second cover with the effigy of Mercury in a medallion in the centre. 3ff.n.ch., vi, 11-459 pp. 4 plates of folding statistical tables, 8 plates of hors-texte views. Slight traces of use on the cover, spine slightly warped with small cracks to the headpieces. A tear of about 12 cm at the head of the second spine. Corners corned, a few scattered freckles, several handwritten notes and corrections in pencil and an old one in pen ( p 272). First edition dedicated to Prince Gallitzin, Governor of Moscow. This important guide was published twelve years after the Napoleonic occupation and is the first of its kind to be devoted exclusively to the former capital of the Tsars. It is a first-rate historical account of a city in the throes of reconstruction, captured at a time when it was abandoning its medieval face for neo-classical imperial architecture. Illustrated with 8 fine copper-engraved plates by Russian artist Dmitrii Arkad'ev, with Cyrillic captions. These views constitute one of the first visual reports on "rebuilt" Moscow. They depict the city's most emblematic landmarks: the Kremlin seen from the Stone Bridge, the new Imperial Theatre (Bolshoi), the Sukharef Tower, the Imperial House of Education, the Military Hospital, etc. Georges Lecointe de Laveau, (1783-1846) was a Frenchman who became a Muscovite (around 1806) and lived through the Moscow fire of 1812 as an eyewitness. A naturalist, he was secretary of the Imperial Society of Moscow Naturalists, and conceived this work with a scientific rigour and an intimate knowledge of the place that were lacking in the superficial travel accounts of the time. The volume is also a superb example of the typography of Auguste Semen (1781?-1862), a central figure in the history of the book in nineteenth-century Russia. His career was that of a Parisian émigré who revolutionised Moscow printing by introducing the standards of elegance and technique of French typography. As proof of his immense success, he became the printer to the Imperial Medical and Surgical Academy in Moscow and ran the printing works of the Holy Synod for over forty years. The work describes the history, topography, trade, monuments and institutions of Moscow, with tables providing valuable statistical data. In fine, it includes an itinerary of the main roads in Russia to help travellers. A very rare copy in its first state, as issued, with partially uncut pages.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Prestige sale - Antiquarian and collectible books
Auction location
Auction time 06/15/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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