Two Rare Books from the Private Library of Nicholas II
at His Own Chambers of the Winter Palace.
Provenance: Soviet Government sale to an American book dealer, circa 1933; The Plaza Book Auction Corp. public sale in New York, April 12th-13th, 1934.
Cover of the 1934 auction catalog of the Imperial Russian book collection.
Lot Nr. 135 from the 1934 sale
V.M. Vonliarsky, Vospominaniia Ordinartsa o Voine 1877-1878 (The Memoirs of an Orderly Officer about the War 1877-1878),
St. Petersburg, 1891, 6 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (16,7 x 25 cm)
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 on the Balkans, the author (officer of the Chevalier Guard Regiment) served as an Orderly officer to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (Commander of the Russian Army in Romania).
Condition: occasional slight rubbing.
Fine leather binding (full red morocco) with tooled floral border decorations in gold and platinum.
Doublures of moiré tan silk.
Bookplate of Nicholas II, interlaced ‘H’ and ‘A’ for Nicholas Alexandrovich beneath Imperial crown.
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Nr.152 from the 1934 sale: Georges Meunier. La Poesie de la Renaissance, published in Paris, circa 1896, 4 3/4 x 7 6/16 in. (12 x 18,7 cm), presentation copy inscribed by the author to Czar Nicholas II, half navy blue morocco binding of the Nicholas II private library, original French wrappers bound in.
Almost certainly this volume was presented to Nicholas II during his visit to France in 1896.
The spine is decorated with Nicholas II super exlibris in gold: interlaced letters ‘H’ and ‘A’ under the Imperial crown.
Books from the private library of Nicholas II with similar bindings are published in “Book in the Romanov Family” by V. Durov, page 25.
Condition: minor rubbing to extremities and the front hinge of the spine.
The inscription reads “A Sa Majeste Nicolas II Empereur de Russie hommage de profond respect offert comme temoignage des voeux formes par l’auteur, pour le bonheur et la splendeur de son glorieux regne, Georges Meunier, Professeur agrege de l’Universite de France au Lycee de Sens (Yonne), France”.
V.M. Vonliarsky, Vospominaniia Ordinartsa o Voine 1877-1878 (The Memoirs of an Orderly Officer about the War 1877-1878),
St. Petersburg, 1891, 6 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (16,7 x 25 cm)
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 on the Balkans, the author (officer of the Chevalier Guard Regiment) served as an Orderly officer to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (Commander of the Russian Army in Romania).
ot Nr.152 from the 1934 sale: Georges Meunier. La Poesie de la Renaissance, published in Paris, circa 1896, 4 3/4 x 7 6/16 in. (12 x 18,7 cm), presentation copy inscribed by the author to Czar Nicholas II, half navy blue morocco binding of the Nicholas II private library, original French wrappers bound in.
Almost certainly this volume was presented to Nicholas II during his visit to France in 1896.
The inscription reads “A Sa Majeste Nicolas II Empereur de Russie hommage de profond respect offert comme temoignage des voeux formes par l’auteur, pour le bonheur et la splendeur de son glorieux regne, Georges Meunier, Professeur agrege de l’Universite de France au Lycee de Sens (Yonne), France”.
