O povrezhdenii nravov v Rossii [On the Morality of Russia] plus Chaadaev's Filosofskiye Pisma & Apologia za Sumasshedshiye [Philosophical Letters and Apologia for the Insane]

Moscow: Russkoe tovarishchestvo, 1908. Paperback. Good. Wraps, good, light restoration to spine, small chip to fore-edge of front wrap, small tear to first 50 pp of fore-edge margin. 169 pp, a few plates. Two late 18th and early 19th century exponents of Russian enlightenment. Chaadayev wrote eight "Philosophical Letters" about Russia in French between 1826-1831, which circulated among intellectuals in Russia in manuscript form for many years. They comprise an indictment of Russian culture for its laggard role far behind the leaders of Western civilization. He cast doubt on the greatness of the Russian past, and ridiculed Orthodoxy for failing to provide a sound spiritual basis for the Russian mind. The letters were reprinted a few times in Russia from 1836 to 1908, but there are only a few copies of any of those editions in institutions. Markedly rare.