Author Archives: Simon Beattie

An 18th-century dust-wrapper

Posted on 19 April 2018 by Simon Beattie

A fascinating survival: the plates for the first volume of Georgi’s Beschreibung aller Nationen des Russischen Reichs (4 vols, 1776–80), ‘the first demographic study of the peoples of Russia’ (Howgego I-G36), still loose and yet to be coloured, in the … Continue reading →

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An early publisher’s printed endpaper?

Posted on 22 February 2018 by Simon Beattie

As many of you many know, I have an interest in endpapers (unusual or attractive ones, anyway), as my recent piece for the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, and my creation of the Facebook group We Love Endpapers will show.  … Continue reading →

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‘An artist full of charm and verve’

Posted on 20 December 2017 by Simon Beattie

Apologies for the recent lack of blog posts.  Things have been so busy: exhibiting at the Boston book fair, processing some recently acquired collections, trying to find someone to come and work for me, and preparing for California.  In cataloguing … Continue reading →

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Fun and games in the British Museum Reading Room

Posted on 25 October 2017 by Simon Beattie

I’m just putting together my list for the forthcoming Boston Book Fair, as my books will be leaving early next week.  It’s always nice to be able to show new stock, freshly catalogued, and I shall have quite a bit … Continue reading →

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British support for the French Revolution

Posted on 13 October 2017 by Simon Beattie

Printed in 1792, this is one of the first publications from the newly inaugurated Convention Nationale, the third government of the French Revolution, and in which English, Scottish and Irish citizens, resident in France, voice their support for the revolutionary … Continue reading →

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All Greek

Posted on 29 September 2017 by Simon Beattie

I’m currently cataloguing towards the Boston book fair, and am enjoying working through things acquired over the summer.  Here’s one: It’s a lithographed facsimile of a letter in Greek, signed by the President and four members of the Philomuse Society … Continue reading →

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Rimsky-Korsakov’s Harmony Manual

Posted on 22 September 2017 by Simon Beattie

As regular readers of this blog will know, my interests include Russia, music, and lithographic printing.  So it was with some excitement that I came across the following book: Published in 1885, and lithographed throughout from a manuscript original, this … Continue reading →

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Rule, Britannia! In Russia.

Posted on 1 September 2017 by Simon Beattie

I’ve written before about First World War material on this blog (such as here and here), but even though there is a lot on the market you still come across things you’ve never seen before. Published around 1914, these little … Continue reading →

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A Russian choir in Victorian England

Posted on 24 August 2017 by Simon Beattie

Dmitrii Agrenev-Slaviansky (1834–1908) was a Russian singer who founded a choir in 1868, and toured for many years around Europe and the USA.  According to one source, they gave more than 15,000 concerts over 40 years. This printed programme, from … Continue reading →

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On the Road in Russia

Posted on 4 August 2017 by Simon Beattie

‘The death of Stalin in 1953 brought about a gradual, partial relaxation of the terror that for decades had governed the attitudes of the Soviet populace, and particularly the intelligentsia.  At the height of the cold war, Soviet isolation from … Continue reading →

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