Dictionnaire Mongol-Russe-Français Dédié à Sa Majesté L'Empereur de Toutes Les Russies...
Kasan and Tientsin. Imprimerie de l'Université, reprinted by Serebrennikoff & Co., 1941. Second Edition. Stock ID #223398 The first large-scale scholarly dictionary of Mongolian published for the European market and a milestone in historical linguistics and academic publishing. Józef Kowalewski (1801-1878), a Polish Orientalist, exiled to Russia for his pro-independence activity, founded the Department of Mongolian Studies at Kazan University, the first such to be devoted to Mongolian and Central Asian studies in Europe. When referring to this item please quote stockid 223398.
Three volumes in one, [6] half title, title pages in French and Russian, dedication leaf + xiii + 2690pp, the title pages for Volumes II and III bound in (at pp 594 and 1545, small repair to the head of that for Vol III and to the preceding leaf), 12 leaves in duplicate (printed on the rectos and blank on the versos); later publisher's binding, linen and goatskin over thick boards, 27.7 x 20.3cm (x 14 cm depth), gilt-lettered on the upper board, the lettering rubbed and remaining in outline on the spine, the boards with rounded corners, with the ticket of bookseller and publisher Serebrennikoff & Co, Tientsin, to the verso of the front-free endpaper, and the (later) bookplate of A. I. Ward, some browning and fading to the text, the binding strengthened, the leather rubbed and cracked (with loss), but stabilised and preserved in a modern clamshell box with a gilt lettered maroon leather spine label, the text in very good condition. A landmark work in an interesting vernacular binding.
Published in three volumes over six years (1844-1849), it drew on classical Mongolian and religious and archaic texts (reflecting Kowalewski's own interests in Mongolia and in Buddhism); the tri-lingual dictionary also addressed the challenge of transliterating Mongolian script.
The three volumes were reprinted and bound (as one) in 1941 by the influential bookseller and publisher Ivan Serebrennikoff with his Tientsin (Tianjin) book label - a significant cultural undertaking for the Russian émigré community in China. Serebrennikoff was a Russian statesman and Siberian regionalist. He and his wife Alexandra Nikolayevna fled to China following the Bolshevik take-over of Irkutsk in 1920. They became well-known for their involvement distributing Russian-language books in China - particularly in cities with significant Russian expatriate communities such as Tientsin, Harbin, and Shanghai.
Price: $3,950.00 AU