[Fallen but Charming Creatures.]
[after Aleksandr Lebedev.]
[St Petersburg: Pol-Peti, 1862.]
Folio, disbound, 30 numbered lithographic plates, each 430 x 305mm (17 x 12"), as called for. Hinges strained, wear to plates, especially first and last, some staining, a few plates misbound.
An extremely rare set of the first issue of 'Fallen but Charming Creatures', 30 satirical plates after Aleksandr Lebedev (1830-98) with titles written by Vsevolod Krestovsky. The scenes depict 'kamelii' (camellias), urban women who used their sex to gain advancement, in various locations including the opera. All but two have Russian titles in Cyrillic: Plate 1 has a French quote from Victor Hugo's 'Les Chants du Crèpuscule' (Hugo's 'Lady of the Camellias' was the origin of the nickname); Plate 5 has a shopkeeper talking about her assistant like one of her wares. The series with another 30 lithographs, issued separately, then 'An additional album, Another Ten Fallen but Charming Creatures' in 1863.
Colleen Lucey: ''Fallen but Charming Creatures'': The Demimondaine in Russian Literature and Visual Culture of the 1860s. (PDF available for download)
[Ref: 52504] £950.00
[St Petersburg: Pol-Peti, 1862.]
Folio, disbound, 30 numbered lithographic plates, each 430 x 305mm (17 x 12"), as called for. Hinges strained, wear to plates, especially first and last, some staining, a few plates misbound.
An extremely rare set of the first issue of 'Fallen but Charming Creatures', 30 satirical plates after Aleksandr Lebedev (1830-98) with titles written by Vsevolod Krestovsky. The scenes depict 'kamelii' (camellias), urban women who used their sex to gain advancement, in various locations including the opera. All but two have Russian titles in Cyrillic: Plate 1 has a French quote from Victor Hugo's 'Les Chants du Crèpuscule' (Hugo's 'Lady of the Camellias' was the origin of the nickname); Plate 5 has a shopkeeper talking about her assistant like one of her wares. The series with another 30 lithographs, issued separately, then 'An additional album, Another Ten Fallen but Charming Creatures' in 1863.
Colleen Lucey: ''Fallen but Charming Creatures'': The Demimondaine in Russian Literature and Visual Culture of the 1860s. (PDF available for download)
[Ref: 52504] £950.00