Search Results: Authors starting with B from PY Rare Books

BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF THIS MAJOR LUXURY WORK ON BAKST'S ART, THE FIRST ONE OF ITS KIND, AND THE MOST IMPRESSIVE, especially attractive thanks to its art-déco publisher's binding, here in great condition. It focuses on Bakst's costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes together with a few set designs, gathering most of his most famous creations. Interestingly, it occasionally mentions the owner of the costume itself, usually British or French.
Alexandre contributed a critical essay, while the 24-year old Cocteau authored notes on the various ballets.
"Born in Russia in 1866, Léon Bakst belonged to that young generation of European artists who rebelled against 19th century stage realism, which had become pedantic and literal, without imagination or theatricality. There were no specialist trained theatre designers, so painters like Léon Bakst turned their painting skills to theatre design. Bakst's fame lay in the ballets he designed for the Diaghilev Ballets Russes, and huge pageant spectaculars for… Read More

COPY NUMBER 1 (out of 315 for the UK) of the first edition of this celebrated work, especially remarkable for presenting also Bakst's drawings, sketches, paintings, portraits and theatre settings next to his famous costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
Uncut example, with the striking fragile vellum publisher's binding in very good condition.
Description
Folio (37.5 x 29 cm). Leaf with publisher's mark, 240 pp. incl. half-title, title and 68 plates, [1] leaf with tipped-in colour illustration, most plates in colour, numerous engravings and illustrations in text
Binding
Publisher's full vellum by Hoyer, large brown lettering to upper cover, spine with raised bands lettered and decorated in brow.
Condition
Binding minimally soiled or rubbed, very rare internal light stains too; overall a fine example.

An exceptionally fresh example of this limited edition, with only the binding very lightly stained, the cloth bright and fresh and immaculate inside.
This famous work, finely produced, is a record of Bakst's extensive contribution to Diaghilev's revival of La Belle au Bois Dormant at the Alhambra Theatre in London in 1921. It shows Bakst's sets and costumes, which present a beautiful mix of his early Russian inspiration and 18th-c. French tradition. The work is prefaced by an 18-page introduction by Levinson regarding Bakst and Tchaikovsky's ballet.
Diaghilev's production was so lavish (and not so successful) that it nearly bankrupted him. One of the ballerinas, Lydia Lopokova, was noticed by a member of the audience, who repeatedly came to see her: this was John Maynard Keynes. Lopokova soon became Mrs. Keynes, later Baroness and spent the rest of her long life in England.
This is copy num. 8 out of 500 copies for the USA, from an overall limitation of 1000.
DescriptionFolio. With a full-page… Read More

With the impressive and fragile original gilt-decorated card box, usually lacking, and which kept here the copy in excellent condition. This is copy num. 26 out of only 500, signed both by Bakst and Brunoff.
This famous work - described by Bakst himself as a 'magnifique édition pleine de bon goût' - is a record of his extensive contribution to Diaghilev's revival of Tchaikovsky's ballet at the Alhambra Theatre in London in 1921 and Paris in 1922. It shows Bakst's sets and costumes, which present a beautiful mix of his early Russian inspiration and 18th-c. French tradition. The work is prefaced by an 18-page introduction by Levinson regarding Bakst and Tchaikovsky's ballet.
Diaghilev's production was so lavish (and not so successful) that it nearly bankrupted him. One of the ballerinas, Lydia Lopokova, was noticed by a member of the audience, who repeatedly came to see her: this was John Maynard Keynes. Lopokova soon became Mrs. Keynes, later Baroness and spent the rest of her long life in England.… Read More

Very rare full-page satirical illustrations of the situation in Russia during the turbulent years of the Civil War. We could trace only three examples in WorldCat: Harvard (apparently the only one in the USA), Leipzig and Nanterre (France); the NYPL seems to own a microform. We are not aware of any other copy on the market in recent years.

First edition of this imposing work, here with the text volume in French and Russian also, bound together to form one large volume, with the plates in bright condition.
Bogoliubov (1841-1909) was, during 20 years, governor of the Transcaspian Province of the Russian empire (nowadays parts of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). He gathered there a significant collection of paintings and regional carpets and rugs. Back in St. Petersburg he exhibited 40 from his 139-piece collection, later given to the Alexander III museum.
Based on this rich material Bogoliubov published here the first systematic study of carpets and rugs from Central Asia, an important and large work richly illustrated with the help of K. Mishin and showing rare items of the beginning of the 19th century. The text gives for the first time historical descriptions as well as ethnographic and technical details.
Bogoliubov's pioneering work was reprinted in 1973 and published again in 1976.

Description: Imperial folio, text volume… Read More

A fine series of beautiful portraits and scenes taken by one of the most significant female photographers of her time: first edition of this large-format album published to raise funds for the war relief.
The work opens with an introduction that stands in contrast to the often-hostile messages propagated against the Soviet Union by the West around World War Two: "The USSR often has been called the "family of nations", because more than 150 nationalities live there in harmony. This album will serve as an introduction to a few of these peoples – our Soviet allies".
It was published by the Russian War Relief, which was the largest American agency for foreign war relief established in July 1941, one month after Germany's attack on Russia. For this publication, they worked with the American photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904–71), who is best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of the Soviet five-year plan and the first American female war photojournalist.
In the… Read More

New people's art in striking suprematist wrappers.
***Full description kindly provided on request***