with magnificent plates

Grand commemorative album with magnificent plates published on the occasion of inauguration of the monument to Pushkin in Moscow, including a large portrait of the poet by Nikolay Matveev and 14 illustrations created by Nikolay Bogatov, Klavdiy Lebedev and Konstantin Trutovskiy, Russian artists that made their names by illustrating pieces of Russian literature and depicting historical events. The lithographed plates illustrate selected scenes from Pushkin's best known pieces, such as Eugene Onegin and Boris Godunov, and are accompanied by the corresponding extracts from the poems.

Designed by Alexander Opekushin, the monument to the great poet was inaugurated in 1880, on 6 June (Pushkin's birthday), in Pushkinskaya square. It was a major event celebrated with pomp and grandeur and accompanied by numerous exhibitions and commemorative publications. This particular album, however, seems to have been published in a small edition, as assumed by the curators of the Tver regional art museum, whose 2015 summer exhibition title 'The Pushkin album. The graphics and decorative arts from the collection of the Tver Regional Art Gallery' features plates from this publication. WorldCat locates only two copies outside Russia - in the library of Congress and Yale University library.

Large folio (60.5 x 44.5 cm). Title, 15 lithographed plates (incl. 2 plates by N.S. Matveev, 7 by N.A. Bogatov, 3 by K.V.Lebedev, 2 by K.A.Trutovskiy), tissue guards with printed text; light marginal waterstain to one plate and tissue, light occasional spotting. Original publisher's quarter calf over green cloth boards, lettering to upper cover; spine rubbed with some losses, upper spine restored, covers slightly spotted.