Istoriia Russkogo Iskusstva / History of Russian Art

Moskva / Moscow: Izd-vo Akademii Khudozhestv SSSR / U.S.S.R. Academy of Science. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Fine. 4to 11" - 13" tall. Thirteen volumes in 16 make up a complete set of this magisterial encyclopedia of the history of art and artists in Russia and the eventual Soviet Union. Published volume by volume between 1953 and 1969. Russian language texts and with Cyrillic characters, too, which have been omitted here. Bound handsomely in gray buckram cloth, with titles to covers and spines stamped sharply in burgundy, and with neat horizontal borders to spines and blind-stamped borders and designs to covers. Silk-linen ribbon bookmarks attached to each and every volume. Mild wear and tear to volumes beyond some bruised but unbroken tips, occasional waffling of short portions of text-blocks; they look most handsome on the shelf and were made the sturdier by the library-reinforcing tape to front and rear gutters of each volume. Tariff tickets laid in here and there, some tariff-related ink-stamps here and there, unobtrusive. Simple printed bookplate of Valerie A. Tumins graces inside front flap of several volumes, she having been a Professor of Russian history, religion and literature at the University of California-Davis (1965-1991) before dying in 2011. Dr. Tumins was born in Vologda, Russia, and grew up in Riga, Latvia. This set, a fine-looking reprint of the original, was put under the general editorship of B.C. Kemehoba and was edited expertly by the important Russian post-Impressionist artist Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (born on 25 March 1871 in Budapest, died 16 May 1960 in Moscow) and who became a publisher and restorer of Russian and Soviet art. His Wikipedia entry notes that he trained under "Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich. He reached his peak in painting in 1903–1907 and was notable for a peculiar divisionist painting technique bordering on pointillism and his rendition of snow." Grabar had by then established himself also as an art critic and historian. Between 1910 and 1915, Grabar edited and published this, his opus magnum, writing on architecture, and the other artists and art historians he commissioned writing on painting, the graphic arts, sculpture and other media. Several hundred illustrations in black-and-white, printed on fine paper, and many being full-page. Comprised of the following: Tom I: (1953), [4], 5-573 [2] pp., with "Introduction," by G. Y. Sternin; Tom II (1954), [6], 7-423 [2] pp., featuring "The Art of the Ancient Slavs," by B. A. Rybakov; Tom III (1955), [6], 7-745 [2] pp., with a chapter by Y. N. Dmitriev and I. E. Danilova entitled "The 17th Century and its Culture"; Tom IV (1959), [6], 7-797 [2] pp., with a chapter "Novgorod Velikiy," by V. N. Lazarev; Tom V (1960), [6], 7-569 [2] pp. including "Introduction," by T. V. Alekseeva; Tom VI (1961), [4], 5-492 [4] pp., "Introduction" by N. N. Kovalenskaia; Tom VII (1961), [6], 7-507 [3] pp., "Introduction" by R. S. Kaufman; Tom VIII, Part 1 (1963) (some scuffing to spine head and foot, crimping to tips in rear, unobtrusive), [6], 7-706 [2] pp., "Introduction" by R. S. Kaufman; Tom VIII, Part 2 (1964), [6], 7-665 [3] pp., "Introduction," by D. E. Arkin and N. N. Kovalenskai; Tom IX, Part 1 (1965), [6], 7-440 [2] pp., "Introduction" by F. S. Rokotov and A. N. Savinov; Tom IX, Part 2 (1965), [6], 7-585 [2] pp., "The Art of the Central Russian Principalities Of XIII- XV Century," by N. N. Voronin and V. N. Lazarev; Tom X, Part 1 (1968), [6], 7-508 [2] pp., "Introduction" by I. E. Grabar and O. I. Podobedova; Tom X, Part 2 (1969)(some bruising to bottom edge and spine bottom, slight waffling of cloth to front cover), [6], 7-557 [3] pp., "Introduction," by V. I. Surikov and V. S. Kemenov; Tom XI 1957), [4], 5-445 [2] pp., "Satirical Graphics of the 1860s," by P. M. Shmelkov and N. Y. Zograf; Tom XII (1961), [6], 7-613 [2] pp., "The First Events of the Soviet Government In the Fields of Art," by N. N. Lebedev; Tom XIII (1964), [8], 9-403 [22] pp. All in, a most handsome set indeed, and scarcely available to the trade in this condition and state.Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.