Lot 21: LOMONOSOV, Mikhail (1711-1765). Rossiiskaya Grammatika. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy

LOMONOSOV, Mikhail (1711-1765). Rossiiskaya Grammatika. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1755 [but 1765].

8° (198 x 125mm). As issued, without frontispiece. (Inner margin of title repaired with some loss, occasional faint dampstain, a few tears, some repaired.) Contemporary quarter calf (later corners, rubbed). Provenance: deleted shelf-marks on title and endpapers.

LOMONOSOV'S PHILOLOGICAL MASTERPIECE, which reformed literary Russian and remained the standard grammar well into the 19 t h century. This copy shows a contemporary manuscript shelf-mark on the endpaper and spine, possibly in the hand of Catherine II's librarian. The work was dedicated to the young Tsarevich Paul, who was born a year earlier, and publication was timed to coincide with the inauguration of Moscow University in 1755 -- the result of tireless efforts, and the source of great pride for Lomonosov. This copy is from the second edition, also dated 1755 on the title, but with the paper watermarked '1764'. Both lifetime editions are VERY RARE. Bitovt 1191; Sopikov 2951; SK 3775.

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