Russia in Old Books: Travellers, Tsars, Emigration

French travellers

The astronomer Jean Chappe d'Auteroche, sent to Tobolsk to observe the transit of Venus in 1761, published in 1768 his Voyage en Sibérie in large quarto volumes with a folio atlas, illustrated notably by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince; Catherine II, irritated, had an anonymous Antidote published in response. The marquis de Custine published in 1843 La Russie en 1839 in four volumes with Amyot, banned in Russia but immediately reprinted and pirated.

Under Alexander II, Alexandre Dumas travelled through Russia and the Caucasus from June 1858 to March 1859 with the painter Moynet, and drew from this En Russie and Le Caucase; Théophile Gautier published his Voyage en Russie in 1867. Jules Verne launched in 1876 Michel Strogoff from Moscow to Irkutsk, and at the end of the century Jules Legras or Armand Silvestre recounted Siberia and Moscow to readers of a country that had become the ally of the Empire.

The tsars, 1812 and the Franco-Russian alliance

Russian history was written early in French: Voltaire devoted an Histoire de l'empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand to the reforming tsar, Pierre-Charles Levesque published a Histoire de Russie accompanied by an atlas, and Kazimierz Waliszewski, at the end of the 19th century, a series of biographies of sovereigns, including Le Roman d'une impératrice, devoted to Catherine II.

The 1812 campaign left a wealth of memoirs and accounts. It connects with a figure dear to readers of the Bibliothèque rose: the countess of Ségur, née Sophie Rostopchine, was the daughter of the governor of Moscow in 1812, and her Général Dourakine (Hachette, 1863, illustrated by Émile Bayard) is partly set in Russia. With the alliance concluded in 1892 and Nicholas II's visit to France in 1896, albums, special issues and souvenir books multiplied.

The Russian Novel and the Ballets Russes

In 1886, Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé published with Plon Le Roman russe, which introduced Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy to the French public. Early translations of these authors are now collected for their own sake.

In 1909, the first season of the Ballets Russes by Sergei Diaghilev at the Théâtre du Châtelet launched twenty years of Parisian creations, with sets and costumes by Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, followed by Picasso for Parade in 1917. Programmes, issues of Comœdia illustré and illustrated books by Russian artists, such as Pushkin’s fairy tales by Ivan Bilibin, preserve their legacy.

Russian Emigration in Paris

After 1917, Paris became one of the capitals of Russian emigration. The Nansen passport, created in 1922, granted status to refugees, and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky on rue Daru—located in the 8th arrondissement, like our bookshop—became the heart of Russian Paris. The journal Sovremennye zapiski (1920–1940) published Ivan Bunin, Nobel laureate in 1933, and the young Nabokov; YMCA-Press, established in Paris in 1925, would go on to publish The Gulag Archipelago in 1973.

These modestly produced Russian-language editions, along with books written in French by children of the Empire—such as Joseph Kessel, who spent part of his childhood in Orenburg and depicted the nights of emigration in Nuits de princes (1927)—form a field often within reach. Ivan Bilibin himself lived in Paris from 1925 to 1936 before returning to the USSR.

Advice for the Collector

• Spelling variants: tsar, tzar or czar; Tolstoy or Tolstoï; Dostoevsky or Dostoiewski. Search under all forms.
• Completeness: great 18th-century voyages have their atlases and plates, often dispersed.
• Provenance: a gift from an emigrant, a Cyrillic ex-libris or Russian ownership adds interest.
• Prices: a few dozen euros for a common late 19th-century travel account, several hundred for a complete, large illustrated voyage or a sought-after Russian illustrated book.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which early books on Russia are most sought-after?

Complete 18th-century illustrated travel accounts with their atlases, the first edition of Custine, early 20th-century Russian illustrated books, Ballets Russes programmes and first editions of the emigration. Condition, completeness and provenance matter as much as the title.

Do Russian-language books printed in Paris hold value?

Some do: first editions by major authors, inscribed copies, limited print runs. Many remain modestly priced, and the bookseller can advise based on photographs.

Where to find books on the 1812 Russian Campaign?

In the selection above and in our Napoleon and militaria section, which brings together memoirs, accounts and documents on the Grande Armée.

Do you buy Russian family libraries?

Yes, like any old library: the bookseller offers a free estimate based on photos and purchases in Paris and throughout France. Send a few photos of the spines and title pages for an initial assessment.

To go further

• Alexandre Dumas: novels and old editions
• Joseph Kessel: original editions and reportage
• Old books by Jules Verne
• Old journals and magazines, from L'Illustration to Journal des voyages
• Old books on Picasso
• The History section and our page Sell and appraise your old books
• Asia in old books: Japan, China, Indochina, Siam