6 April 2013  the Auction House of the Russian Federation will hold the first auction for  antiquarian and second-hand books. About a hundred rare and collectors’ editions are put up for auction.  The pre-auction exhibition will take place from the 1st  till the 6th of April 2013.

The crowning glory of the auction will be the books put up for auction for the first time and recognized as rare by bibliophiles as early as at the end of  19th century. One of them is “Three conversations of a priest with the congregation about the true road to salvation”, published in 1816 (the estimate is 100-120 thousand rubles). This edition is included in the book by G.Gennadi “The Russian Book Rarities”. And the book “Englishmen in the Trojan War. 1854”, is mentioned in the book by N.I. Berezin “Russian Book Rarities” published in 1902 as one of the rare editions (the estimate is 50-60 thousand rubles).   
The appearance of these lots at the AHR auction promises to become an important event on the antiquarian books market.    

The most expensive lot of the auction is the first lifetime edition of N.V.Gogol’s novel “Dead Souls” of 1842. The lot is also interesting because of the presentation inscription opposite the title page by the playwright Vsevolod Ivanov to the Soviet film director Alexandre Dovzhenko on his 60th  birthday (the estimate is 350-400 thousand rubles). 

A rare collection of antiquarian editions on the history of law and finances in the Russain Empire. Among them stand out “The Collection of laws on promissory notes, acknowledgements of debt, insolvent parties and other promissory acts, containing: the promissory notes regulations, insolvent parties regulations and decrees and enactments that followed on this subject until 1826” published in 1826 (the estimate is 250-270 thousand rubles).

The Harbin editions of Pogrebetsky dating back to the 1920s are also very rare.  They are “Currency circulation and monetary notes of the Far East for the period of the War and Revolution (1914–1924)” (the estimate is 40-50 thousand rubles) and “The Currency Circulation and Finances of China” (the estimate is 35-40 thousand rubles).

Alexander Ilyich Pogrebetsky (1891-1952) was the manager of a banking institution and the treasurer of the Irkutsk Politcenter, and later the head of the department of finances of the Provisional Government of the Far East, and a member of the finance committees of the Constituent and Popular Assembly of the Far East. Pogrebetsky was not only a professional financier but also the owner of a collection of monetary notes, and the author of several research studies on currency circulation and money of the Far East Region which still remain unique sources of historical information on notaphily.

Another significant lot is the comparative historical-legislative study by K.F. Khartulari, “The Right of Judgment and the Right of Pardon as Prerogatives of the Russian Great Power Statehood” (1899, 2 volumes, the estimate is 250-290 thousand rubles). The curious fact about it is that this particular two-volume edition used to belong to a cousin of Nikolas II, the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov (the books bear the super ex libris of the Grand Duke).   

For further information on these lots see: http://auction-house.ru/auction/12212