RUSSIAN NAVY - APOSTOLI, Nikolai Nikolaevich (photo.).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Russkii voennyi flot. Illyustrirovannaya istoriya so vremen Petra Velikogo do nastoyashchego vremeni. 1689-1905. First edition, just one institutional copy traced, at Stanford. This excellent pictorial history comprises images of ships, battle scenes, and portraits. Published at the time of the Russo-Japanese War, the front cover incorporates an image of the cruiser Varyag, celebrated for the stoicism of her crew at the Battle of Chemulpo Bay (1904).At the time of publication, Apostoli (1861-1937), a captain in the Russian Navy, was already established as a photographer and captured many images of the fleet, his work being published in a number of manuals and reference books. From 1905 to 1910 he was successively staff officer at Kronstadt, then head of the communications service of the Baltic Fleet. Following the Revolution, he managed the photo laboratory of the Baltic Fleet Political Directorate (Pubalt), although in 1919 he was arrested by the Petrograd Cheka for attempting to cross the Finnish border and sent to Vologda for "community service". Released in 1920 he was stationed in Petrograd, later in the decade teaching photography at the M. V. Frunze Higher Naval School (now the Saint Petersburg Naval Institute). He also had a reputation as a camera designer, developing twin-lens and underwater cameras, and wrote a number of books, including A Guide to the Study of Practical Photography for Naval Officers and Tourists (1893).

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.