Rare Books Published in Imperial and Early Soviet Russia

Included in this collection are books from the Thomas J. Watson Library that were published primarily in Russia or the Ukraine in the nineteenth or early twentieth century. The selection here reflects a wide array of themes and formats, ranging from albums of photographs, illustrated books, exhibition catalogs, and catalogs of private and institutional collections.
Among the highlights of this collection are: albums of original photographs of old Russian churches and monasteries from the library of Alexander III, Emperor of Russia (1845-1894); monumental studies of Russian painting of the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries; and books on iconostases, miniature paintings, and arms and armor. While most of the works are focused on art created in Russia, this collection also includes catalogs of European and ancient art, exhibited or held in Russian or Ukrainian collections.