[BRUCE CALENDAR]. Kniga imenuemaya Bryusovskoi kalendar. [The Book called the Bruce Calendar]. [Moscow: Vasilii Vasilievich Kiprianov, 1726].

[BRUCE CALENDAR]. Kniga imenuemaya Bryusovskoi kalendar. [The Book called the Bruce Calendar]. [Moscow: Vasilii Vasilievich Kiprianov, 1726].



Oblong 2° (320 x 200mm). Engraved title and 34 engraved plates (of 35, lacking plate 26, and part of 27), and engraved descriptive text. (Contents leaf repaired in inner margin, occasional light spotting or soiling, a few short tears, some of these with small loss, a few with old repairs.) Contemporary calf, red edges (worn). Provenance: Peter Esipov (inscription) -- Paul M. Fekula.



FIRST EDITION THUS. EXTREMELY RARE and a remarkable survival in this condition. Bitovt notes that the copy in the Rumiantsev museum is defective. Although based on the edition begun by Kiprianov the father in 1709, this edition, differs in title, size and number of engravings. Later known as the Malii Kalendar, it is the basis of subsequent editions: it was reissued at least twice in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, and regularly during the reign of Catherine II each time with additions or variations. Bitovt 2776 (\'GREAT RARITY\'); Fekula 2516 (this copy); cf. Sopikov 4984.