Russia
SAMOKISH, N[ikolay] S[emenovich] and S[ergey] I[vanovich] VASILKOVSKIY (artists), D[mtri] I[vanovich] EVARNITSKIY.
Iz ukraynskoy stariny [From the Antiquity of Ukraine]. La Petite Russie d'autrefois.
A. F. Marx, St. Petersburg, [1900]. Folio (42 x 33.5 cm). VIII, 98, [2] pp. including the list of plates, and 21 plates with chromolithography, by Samokish and Vasilkovskiy; some spotting. Text and plates lose as issued, housed in original red cloth folder, stamped in blind and gilt, front cover decorated in gold and colour by Samokish; light spotting and rubbing at extremities, inside reinforced.
FINE EXAMPLE OF A UKRAINIAN ARTISTIC AND ACADEMIC COLLABORATION, celebrating - under the Russian rule - the country history and past glory. Evarnitskiy (Dmytro Yavornytsky, 1855-1940) was a knowledgable historian, ethnographer and lexicographer with marked pro-Ukrainian tendencies. He used for the present publication both primary and archival sources in his research, and a selection of them was later published as 'Istochniki dlya istorii zaporozhskykh kozakov' (Sources for the History of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, in 1903). He then became, in 1902, director of the Museum of Antiquities of Katerynoslav Gubernia (later the Dnipropetrovske Historical Museum). His text mainly develops, in Russian and French, biographies of important Ukrainian figures, and is illustrated through the collaboration between two of the best artists and book decorators of the period, both also Ukrainian. Samokish's style in the present work echoes one of his masterpieces, the celebrated 4-volume 'Tsarskaya Okhota'. The plates show portraits in colour by Vasilkovskiy framed by lively scenes by Samokish. Both artists had already collaborated for Nicholas II coronation album, and later published together an album of Ukrainian folk ornamental motifs.
Price: £ 4500
US Dollar Price: $ 8930
Stock Number: 73441