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Catherine the Great; Michael Tatischeff (translator). The Grand Instructions to the
Commissioners Appointed to Frame a New Code of Laws for the Russian Empire:
Composed by Her Imperial Majesty Catherine II. Empress of all the Russias.
London: T. Jefferys, 1768. Quarto, contemporary three-quarter calf, marbled boards.
Private library label and armorial bookplate, early owner signature. $5000.
First English translation of Catherine the Great’s Nakaz, her instructions to the
commission she convened in 1767 to reform the Russian legal system. A student of
the
philosophes
, Catherine was inspired by the principles of Montesquieu, Diderot,
and Rousseau. She was eager to promote herself as a voice of enlightened reason,
and Russia as a modern European nation. Although she considered the absolute
power of the tsar the only practical means of governing such a vast empire, her
Nakaz represented a striking break with Russia’s feudal past: “the Equality of the
Citizens consists in this; that they should all be subject to the same Laws.”
Catherine argued that “it is better to prevent Crimes, than to punish them,”
condemning the use of torture and the death penalty. Her commissioners fell into
partisan squabbling, and the 1768 war with the Turks provided an excuse to suspend
the reform project. But the Nakaz, widely translated and debated across Europe,
and banned by Louis XV in France, placed Russia in a new light internationally:
Voltaire described it as “the finest monument of the age.” Predating the American
and French revolutions, Catherine’s early attempt to imagine a more egalitarian
legal code remains a compelling document of the Enlightenment.
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La Musée des Dames et des Demoiselles. Règne Animal 1-3 (Les Oiseaux, Les
Insectes, Les Papillons), Règne Végétal 1-2 (Les Fleurs, Les Fruits), Règne Minéral
(Les Minéraux et Les Coquillages).
Paris: Marcilly Ainé, circa 1825. Six twelvemo
volumes, original glazed pastel boards, color pictorial pastedown labels. Hand-colored
frontispieces. Housed in original box. $3750.
Set of natural history guides for French ladies, covering the animal, vegetable,
and mineral kingdoms. The vivid hand-colored plates depict staged tableaux of
butterflies, insects, and birds; mixed bouquets of flowers and fruits; and a cabinet
stocked with minerals and seashells. Text in French. A beautiful set, reflecting the
nineteenth-century vogue for collecting natural specimens, a scientific pursuit
deemed appropriate for women and girls.
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Charles Malo. Les Capitales de l’Europe: Promenades Pittoresques.
Paris: Firmin
Didot for Marcilly Fils Ainé, [1829]. Eight twelvemo volumes, original glazed pastel
boards. Hand-colored frontispieces. Housed in original box. $3250.
Set of travel guides to eight historic capitals of Europe, with brilliant hand-colored
views of the Pont-neuf in Paris, St. Marylebone in London, the Fontanka river in
St. Petersburg, the Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Capitoline Hill in Rome, the
Arsenal in Berlin, San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid, and Seraglio Point near
Constantinople. Text in French. Bright examples of these delightful pocket guides.
