GOLOVIN, Ivan Gavrilovich. Russia under the Autocrat, Nicholas the First.

GOLOVIN, Ivan Gavrilovich. Russia under the Autocrat, Nicholas the First. London: Henry Colburn. 1846. Two volumes, 8vo. Modern 19th-century German-style marbled paper-covered boards with red morocco lettering-pieces, edges marbled in the 19th century century; pp. xi, 345; [ii], 340, lithographic portrait on India paper mounted on card with imprint; light marginal spotting to mounting card, otherwise a very good copy. Very rare first edition of this dissection of and attack on Tsarist autocracy. The aristocrat Ivan Gavrilovich Golovin (1816-1890) had served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became disillusioned with Russia and Tsarist autocracy. He went into exile in France and Britain, where he published this study and analysis of the Russian government and the effect on society, illustrated with many examples of absolute power being forced on people of lower social status. The Tsar tried Golovin in absentia for publishing critical texts and he was stripped of his rank and nobility and sentenced to penal servitude should he ever set foot on Russian soil. SKU: 2124764