Melbourne Rare Book Fair 2019: The Highlights Including Russian Australiana & Avant-Garde Classics BOOKVICA 1 F O R E W O R D Dear all, We are glad to present to you the catalogue for the Melbourne fair - fair we wanted to participate in for a long time. The preface is that the international bookselling career of Bookvica founder, Pavel Chepyzhov, has started in Australia 8 years ago, with the ILAB internship done with the Cornstalk Bookshop and Hordern House. Now, we are coming back to show the work that has been done in these last years. The selection that we bring to Melbourne is as diverse and representative of our work as possible: from the illuminated gems of the 17th century in the shape of special coloured copy of Paterik Pecherskiy (1661) and the 13-meter long Armenian prayer scroll manuscript, to the classical Rodchenko and Lebedev’s works in book avant-garde. The special section is dedicated to what we have called Russian Australiana. Here one can find books that show connection between two countries which existed steadily through the last 200 years, especially if you include the numerous Russian travels in the Pacific and the influence of Russian culture on the Pacific Rim. We are glad to bring to Melbourne the signed copy of the travel account of one of the greatest Russian circumnavigators, Yuri Lisiansky, as well as the Russian translation of the James Cook’s biography by Kippis (1790), to underline the common ground. The Chinese section offers a glimpse into the Russian travel exploration of China, to the imprints of the exiled Russians in China in the 1920s-1930s, while in USSR at the same time the albums and books praising Mao were printed. A section of photovalbums is largely dedicated to China as well, the Far East and Russian border, as well as the documentary album on the Second Opium War. You could also find the Russian map of Antarctica, one of the first books printed in Arabic script, world map in Japanese (1862) and the illustrated travel account of a doctor who was sent to fight the syphilis epidemics in the Arctic in the 1830s. Bookvica team [email protected] BOOKVICA 2 I MANUSCRIPTS & EARLY PRINTED BOOKS 01 [THE MOST IMPORTANT UKRAINIAN BOOK OF THE 17th CENTURY] Paterik ili Otechnik Pecherskii. First edition. Kiev, 1661. 314 leaves, 1 engraved title page, 2 plans of the caves as well as 49 woodcuts of Lavra saints. 31x18 cm. The first Old Slavonic edition of arguably the most important book printed in Ukraine in the 17th century. Complete with the folding plans of the monastery caves. The folding plans in the first edition are almost always lacking. The second edition that came out in 1678 had the plans as well, the second edition comes with plans in 30% of the times, while the first almost never. Sophisticated copy: all the woodcuts in the book are contemporary coloured which usually indicates the presence of the copy in the important collection. The colouring itself is a work of art, giving the new perspective to the classical images. Condition: late 18th cent. maroon binding, recent restoration of the spine and the back cover. Parts of the pages are in manuscript (added in XVIII century), including parts of the title page, the plans and one leaf of the index at the back of the book. Provenance: coming from the library of I.K. Laptev (book plate, 19th cent.), before that it has been in Belgorod region, according to the inscription by Fyodor Ivanovich Vavilov, that is done through several leaves of the book. The book is the chronicle of one of the first Christian monasteries in Kiev Rus’. Kiev Pechersk Lavra that was found in 1051 has been a cave monastery and the centre of the spiritual life of the Eastern European Christianity. The story of the creation of this book has started in the 13th century, when Lavra monk Simon wrote the letter to his ward, Polikarp, in the letter he was using the examples of the lives of the saints of the monastery to teach Polikarp the Christian virtues. Polikarp himself wrote another letter later extending Simon’s examples to archbishop Akindin. From there on the different texts were added by the monks of BOOKVICA 3 No 01 BOOKVICA 4 the Lavra that formed the first known manuscript version of Paterik, the copy created in the 16th century for Tver archbishop Arseny. Written as the chronicle of life in the cave monastery, Paterik is an important documentation of Kiev Rus with information on the economy, social life of the country, the ties between Christianity and the pagan beliefs of the Middle Age Russia. It’s hard to compare it with any other book documenting the life of the country, as it’s a collection of first-hand accounts, the classical stories of the life of the monastery and around, the polemics and the historical essays on the beginning of Russian Church, etc. Paterik was created in the form used in Byzantine tradition, similar to Sinai Paterik, Rome Paterik, etc. that usually includes the story of the lives of the saints together with their works. Comparing to Byzantine Pateriks, Otechnik Pecherskii has less text by the saints themselves, but more material on their lives. The text was changing over time, the new lives of saints were being added. The most important alteration was made in the 17th century when the version of Iosif Trizna (1647-1656) was created. Iosif was preparing the first printed edition that came out in 1661. Trizna editing transformed Paterik from collection of biographies of important personalities of Lavra to something bigger: the events are viewed in context with Russian and even universal spiritual life. At the time it was very important for Kiev-based Orthodox Christians to emphasize their roots and the fidelity of their believes. In Moscow starting from the 1650s, the Raskol started to emerge: the great split between Orthodox Christians that later led to the creation of the movement of the Old Believers and their oppression by the Official Church for years to come. This edition was the important manifestation for archbishop Innocent (Gizel) (1600-1683), Prussian-born Church administrator and educator, who was close to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and lobbied the unity of Ukrainian and Russian Church traditions. The coloured version of Paterik with the plans of caves present could be regarded as one of the rarest and most important books on the market. 75,000USD / 107,000AUD BOOKVICA 5 No 01 BOOKVICA 6 02 [ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPT IN SCROLL] Hmail [i.e. The Collection of Spells]. Manuscript in scroll. Upper Armenia, 1680. 13 meters 87 cm in length (42,9 ft). 9 cm in width (3,5 inch). Composed of 35 pieces glued together. Text written in one column. 31 illuminated miniatures, 44 ornamented book initials. The manuscript is complete. Tears and wears of the scroll, with minor marginal losses, generally scroll is preserved quite well, no recent restoration was done. Extraordinary survival. The tradition of hmail amulets in Armenian culture dates back to the 15th century (the earliest known example is from 1428). They were created in different parts of Armenia and were made for the travellers. Usually the scroll consisted of the prayers and spells with some elements of ‘folk Christianity’ as well. According to the major specialist in scrolls Davit Ghazaryan (Matenadaran, Scienti c Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots, Yerevan, Armenia), who examined our manuscript, it was written in Bardzr Hajq in the Upper Armenia. Most probably the miniatures and text were done by the same person who signed his name in the colophon adding the date as well. The collophone translates: ‘The book for protection was rewritten by the hand of sinful deakon Jakob, who is from the province Vorotna, from the village Aghuerdz. Amen. For enjoyment of Čianshah, Msrshah and Halapshah, the sons of khoja Paghtasar, who is from the province Arzrum, from the Papert city. It was written on 1129 of the Armenian era (=1680) on May 13’. According to Ghazaryan none other example of Jakob’s work is known, although the whole area is pretty well-researched. Amulet tradition was quite strong in Armenia in the 17th-18th centuries, however not so many examples of it have survived to our day due to the format and the constant use. The important characteristics are length, the quantity and the quality of the miniatures. In our case, the miniatures are masterly done but by a local master, not a specialist illuminist. The quantity is appropriate to the length although we have to add that it’s common for the amulets to be without illustrations. For example the earliest known scroll that is preserved in full length is from 1478 and doesn’t have any illustrations. The significant quality of our specimen is in the size. It’s almost 14 meters long while the standard sizes are 6-7 meters. Also the longer the scroll the loss of the fragments is more likely. The longest ones that are preserved in Matenadaran in Yerevan are not preserved in full. 50% BOOKVICA 7 No 02 of all the scrolls in existence today lack some fragments. Together with this scroll we acquired two printed Armenian scrolls from 1718 and 1730, they are in need of restoration so we did not include them in our catalogue. However they are described, so do not hesitate to contact us about them. He supported the golden ratio theory and used this approach checking the ancient, Roman, Gothic, Byzantine constructions as well as the Soviet buildings.