[Rarebooks] FS: Ice-racing in Russia (print)

[Greg Powers]

I can offer...

Charlemagne, Joseph (Russian 1824-1870).  [Title in Cyrillic and French:]  Courses d’Attelages a Trois Chevaux / Troiki / sur la Newa a St. Petersbourg.  Tinted lithograph, the image measures 23 by 15 inches on a sheet measuring appx. 28 by 20.5 inches.  Some abrasion to the caption; a few small spots, faint overall browning, but a nice clean copy.  Dated 1859 in the image.
 
An unusual image depicting three-horse ice sled races on the frozen Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia.  In the foreground two closely-matched competitors are rounding the near end of the oval track, which extends diagonally across the image.  In the left background is the spit of Vasilievsky Island with the Old St. Petersburg stock exchange, and in the faint distance can be seen Peter and Paul Fortress.  The right is occupied by temporary buildings built on the frozen river.  Probably published by Lemercier in Paris and Daziaro in Moscow (a similar, but smaller, view of Cathedrale d’Isaac dated 1859 bore their imprint).  A large and attractive view.

http://home.comcast.net/~powersrarebooks/IceRacing.jpg

$1250 plus shipping

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