The State Museum of the History of St Petersburg will be running an exhibition on a collection of 200 rare Russian, English and French books from the 18th to 19th century filled with illustrations, engravings and lithographs. The books were collected by Duke Georg Alexander (1859-1909) and his family who were the owners of one of the largest private collections in St. Petersburg during the later period of Imperial Russia.
Many of the works form part of the “picturesque journeys” genre that was formed in the years 1770-1780 and remained popular into the 19th century. As such the collection provides a view of the cities of Western Europe, Russia and the Far East and historic monuments during the 18th and 19th centuries. The exhibition which opened on 15 October will run until 19 May 2013 and will be housed at the Rumyantsev Mansion.