Beschreibung:

KNIAZHNIN, Iakov Borisovich (1740-1791). Sobranie sochinenii . [Collected Works]. St Petersburg: [Mining College Press], 1787. First lifetime edition of the collected works by the ‘Russian Racine’. It gathers together his most successful plays, mostly tragedies, appreciated by Catherine the Great, as well as a few poetic works. Kniazhnin was especially famous for his narrative adaptations of foreign plots, drawn from the Italian opera seria and French plays, to the settings and atmosphere of medieval Russia. The inevitable social commentary evoked by this juxtaposition made him the target of the censors shortly before his death. RBH records no other copies having been offered at auction. SK XVIII 2979; Smirnov-Sokol’skii, Moia biblioteka , 133; Kilgour 525. L. Senelick, Historical Dictionary of Russian Theater , p. 185. Four parts in two volumes, quarto (244 x 174mm). With the half-titles and 1 p. of errata in parts 3 and 4, final engraved vignettes (wanting errata of parts 1-2, edges softened, light waterstaining to a few lower or upper margins, minor spotting, 1: first title untrimmed, 2: first half-title mounted, imprint on first title rubbed, couple of small marginal tears, one outer lower corner torn affecting text, small paper flaw to one leaf just touching text). Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spines tooled and lettered in blind, traces of labels (extremities worn, joints cracked but firm). Provenance: K.I. Schetchikov (bookplate on front pastedowns) – N.N. Garlov and ‘Shkap polka’ (stamps to front and rear free endpapers).