Saltykov - Shchedrin [Saltykov,N.,pseud.], Mikhail Evgrafovich (1826 - 1889)
Arsen´ev, K. K., preface
Sochineniia M. E. Saltykova [N. Shchedrina] Tom deviatyi: Materialy dlia biografii M. E. Saltykova. Poshekhonskaia starina. S portretom avtora i ego faksimile. Izdanie avtora. Spb., Tipografiia M. M. Stasiulevich, Vas.Ostr., 2 lin 7, 1890. XCI, 397 p. €250,00
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Small 4to, standard library binding of the period (1894). Original front cover preserved, back cover is missing. Detached front and back covers, loose. BOXED IN A CUSTOM MADE BOX DESIGNED AT ATELIER TIEMAEYER. BOX NUMBERED AND SIGNED BY MASTER BINDER RIA TIERMEYR. VERY RARE.

On front cover: Sochineniia M. E. Saltykova [N. Shchedrina] Tom deviatyi: Poshekhonskaia Starina, zhizn´i prikliucheniia Nikanora Zatrapeznago. [...] Izdanie avtora [...]
FIRST EDITION.

Principal dancer´s Taisiia Trofimovich - Korsakova (Berlin, Malmö) signature on original front cover in blue ink. Four rubber stamps of A. A. Cherkesov Lending Library in st. Petersburg, dating to 1894 and 1895. Markings in A. A. Cherkesov hand ?).

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Cherkesov (1838 - 1908/1909?) was a close friend and associate of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Serno - Solov´evich (1834, St. Petersburg - 1866), a public figure, man of letters. Upon graduating from Alexandrovsky Lyceum (1853) served at the State Chancellery; On 24 September 1858 submitted a petition to Emperor Alexander II, in which he demonstrated the necessity of emancipating peasants as the first step of fundamental improvements for Russia.

From December 1858 served in the Land Department of the Ministry for Internal Affairs, since late 1859 in retirement with the rank of Count Counsellor. Having criticised the results of Peasant Reform of 1861, became one of the founders of the secret society Land and Freedom (1861), he was a member of its People Central Committee. Contributed to Petersburg magazines Sovremennik, Vek, Russkoe Slovo. Promoted the creation of Sunday schools, in early 1862 opened a bookshop and library-athenaeum (24 Nevsky Prospect), which became meeting points for the radical community and students.

On 7 July 1862 he was arrested, imprisoned in the Alexeevsky Ravelin, in 1865 sentenced to life-long exile to Siberia. On 2 June 1865 on Mytninskaya Square he underwent the rite of civil execution (stripped of all ranks and civil rights). Died in a halting place on the way to Irkutsk. A.A. Cherkesov inherited the library and the shop of Serno-Solovyevich in 1867.

According to I. E. Barenbaum and A. V. Blium Cherkesov´sl lending library went through great hardships in 1870s and in 1880s but survived, although A.A. Cherkesov lost his publishing house to creditors.he still kept ties with prominent literati, including A. N. Pypin even in late 1890s. Very little is known about Cherkesov´s lending libraries in late 1880s and 1890s.It seems that the fate of library´s fund after 1895 is unknown. Cherkesov´s son, Alexander Cherkesov, married Alexander Benois´daughter Anna.- A. N. Svalov and cataloger

References: Volodarskii, I. B. N. A. Serno- Solov´evich v gody zatocheniia v Alekseevskom raveline.// Revoliutsionnaia situatsiia v Rossii v 1859 - 1861 gg. М., 1960, p.340-359;Barenbaum, I. E. N. A. Serno- Solov´evich (1834-1866): Ocherk knigo-torgovoi i knigoizdatel´skoi deiatel´nosti.М., 1961. Ibid. Shturmany griadushchei buri. Serno- Solov´evich. N. P. Ballin. A. A. Cherkesov. M., 'Kniga', 1987, p.198-256,
RO GPB (RNB), f. 621, arkhiv A. N. Pypina, # 960 and others.

Provenance: A. A. Cherkesov lending library, Alexander Benois family, Thaissia Trofimovicz - Korsakoff library, Gennady Ignatov archive and library (Malmö, Sweden), Russica Book and Art, Inc., Berlin - New York.