JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, Saint.

Kniga o devstve [On virginity].

[Moscow,] N. Novikov at the University Press, 1783. 8vo, pp. [2], 201, [1]; Novikov’s stamp on blank title verso; contemporary ink inscription to the front free endpaper, old ms. shelfmark on title and following leaf (the former scored through), the occasional marginal mark; a very good copy in Russian contemporary mottled sheep, flat spine gilt in compartments, spine label lettered gilt, worn, chipped at extremities, split along upper joint at foot, but sound. First edition in Russian of St John Chrysostom’s De virginitate (c. 380–90), ‘an exquisite work, full of grace, freshness and brilliancy’ (Puech), in which the central tenet is that marriage is good, but virginity is better. The anonymous translation is rendered in ‘high-style’ eighteenth-century Russian, with certain elements of Church Slavonic.With the printed label of Moscow bookseller Matvei Glazunov (1757–1830), the founder of Russia’s oldest book business, who had only opened his shop a year or two before. Four years later, in 1787, when Catherine banned all religious books not printed by the Synodal Press, 554 copies of the book were confiscated from Moscow bookshops. ‘Despite being cast in general terms, this retrospective legislation hit hardest at Novikov personally, for of the 313 [titles] confiscated 166 were published by Novikov’s University Press or the Typographical Company. This was a loss from which he could not hope to recover, since these books were his most profitable lines’ (W. Gareth Jones, Nikolay Novikov: Enlightener of Russia, CUP, 1984, p. 192). More were confiscated in 1792 and were burnt as banned books in accordance with Catherine the Great’s decree of 11 February 1793.Svodnyi katalog 2616. No locations in OCLC. Not in the British Library.

• GBP 3,000.00 > 其他币种价格
• 订书号：: F1293.2

• 书商: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)