ANCELOT, Jacques-Arsène-François-Polycarpe. Six mois en Russie. Paris, Dondey-Dupré père et fils, 1827.
8vo. Contemporary green cloth-backed marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt; pp. [4], iv, 426, 13 [publisher's catalogue; light wear to extremities, a little spotted internally; still a rather good copy.
First edition, second issue (first, the year before), presentation copy, inscribed and signed by the author on half title. The French dramatist and litterateur Ancelot (1794-1854) travelled in 1826 to the major cities of the Russian Empire in Europe, accompanying Marshal Marmont as guest at the coronation of Tsar Nichols I. The volume consists of 44 letters to his friend Xavier Saintines in Paris. This journey inspired Ancelot to the plot of his 1828 novel Olga ou l'Orpheline Russe.
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