Brandenburg, Nikolai Efimovich

large 4to (390 x 280mm.), illustrations, 90 plates (including three folding maps and plans), original printed illustrated wrappers, uncut, extremities slightly chipped, lower corner of lower cover missing, backstrip starting to split

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Staraya Ladoga, a town on Lake Ladoga east of modern St Petersburg, was a major trading post on the route from Scandinavia to Byzantium through Kievan Rus, known as "from the Varangians to the Greeks". It was made the capital of the Varangians by Rurik in 862, and features in several of the Norse sagas. It was later part of the Novgorod Republic in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and with the foundation of Novaya Ladoga by Peter the Great in 1703, the old town's prominence diminished.

Its importance to Russian history as the first capital of Rus meant that the earliest archaeological excavations in Russia took place here. In the 1880s, Brandenburg organised large-scale archaeological digs in which some Viking burial mounds were found and the fifteenth-century fortress was excavated.