A FOLDER. Drawings of the Hermeister Castle in Narva.

OPRITS, Colonel, compiler. (Atlas of Drawings of the Old Hermeister Castle with its High Hermann tower in the city of Narva with an accompanying explanatory text).
Narva (Estonia), 1886. Atlas (43x63cm); text (35x22.5cm & 38x26.5cm). An atlas of 13 sheets of original architectural drawings in black ink and numerous colors (each 43x63cm), plus 2 letterpress sheets containing the title (quoted here in translation), contents and dedication to Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich, brother of Czar Alexander III. Accompanied by a manuscript book with a formal calligraphic wrapper-title (A Brief Description of the Old Hermeister Castle with the High Hermann tower in the city of Narva with an Atlas of 40 drawings on 13 sheets) and 16 pp. of explanatory text, and a longer but apparently earlier version of the text, also in manuscript (26 pp. including 2 blanks) but with no title-page. The drawings comprise 40 plans, sections and elevations of the castle, including a general plan that includes the surroundings (within about 500 meters) including part of the Ivangorad Fortress across the river. All the texts are in Russian. In its original portfolio with a green sheepskin spine and green cloth sides, with a blind-stamped ornamental frame on both boards, the front with the gold-blocked atlas title, date, etc.

An atlas of thirteen loose sheets containing 40 exquisite color scale drawings of the thirteenth-century Narva Castle or Hermann Castle (Hermanni Linnus) as it is usually called, in the city of Narva on the Estonian side of the Narova River, which forms the border with Russia. There are several plans of the different floors, sections and elevations, all superbly hand-colored and with scales. Since the castle was severely damaged by bombing in the Second World War (the top of the main tower was completely destroyed and many walls were reduced to rubble), the present atlas provides not only stunning architectural drawings, but also an essential historical source giving extremely detailed views of every part of the castle before the destruction and restoration. The overview map includes parts of the city walls and parts of the ca. 1500 Ivangorod Fortress on the Russian side of the river. The drawings are preceded by two letterpress sheets in the same format with the title (which also appears on the front of the portfolio), contents and dedications. The manuscript book with the accompanying text is formally lettered as though intended for lithographic reproduction, but it is lettered and written in black and one can still see traces of pencil guide lines for the text and pencil outline drawings for the title-page lettering. The other version of the text is similar but with a decorative border and without a title-page, and each version includes passages not in the other. That without a title-page is probably an earlier version, shortened and revised for the final version. The manuscript title for the text and the printed title-page for the atlas both mention the compiler, a military engineer, Colonel Oprits. Since it is dedicated to Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909), brother of Czar Alexander III and son of the murdered Czar Alexander II, it may have been produced for presentation to him in hope of funding. We have found no other source referring to the castle by the name Hermeister Castle (in Russian Germejsterskago). With the armorial bookplate of a Russian noblewoman, L.M. Savelova, perhaps related to Leonid Mikhailovich Savelov, turn-of-the-century genealogist of Russian nobility. In very good condition. Splendid, extensive and detailed color architectural drawings of a mediaeval Estonian castle, providing our best views and description of the castle before it was bombed.