SVININ PAVEL (1787-1839) Sketches of Russia: illustrated with fifteen engravings. London: Printed for R. Ackermann, 1814.

[6], X, 112 pp., [16] plates, portrait; 22 x 13.5 cm. In English. 15 engraved illustrations on separate plates: portrait of Emperor Alexander I as frontispiece, portrait of Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna, views of Russian cities and genre scenes. In a contemporary full leather binding. Wear to the binding, loss of the spine, boards detached, the text block split into several parts, some leaves detached; pages and plates in good condition. Engraved bookplate of Martin Winkler by A. Kravchenko on the flyleaf. The ‘Sketches’ consist of 15 chapters, each accompanied by an engraving. Pavel Petrovich Svinin (1787-1839), writer and artist, diplomat and traveller, was the founder and publisher of the journal ‘Otechestvennye Zapiski’. During his stay in America in 1811-1813, while serving as secretary to the Russian Consul General, he published ‘Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg’ (1813) in English. During his stay in England, Svinin, together with the famous London publisher Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), published ‘Sketches of Russia’ in 1814. Literature: Soloviev. Catalogue no. 105, no. 454. Provenance: Martin Winkler (1893-1982), German cultural and art historian, professor, specialist in Old Russian art, member of the German Society for East European Studies.