St. Petersburg: Portrait of an Imperial City [Saint]

240 pp. 12 x 9.5. Hundreds of black and white photographs. "This is a portrait in photographs--300 of them--of the Russian imperial capital on the eve of its eclipse and utter transformation, which began with World War I. The volume is arranged around successive themes of the City, People, Arts, Institutions, with introductory essays to each section. Ometev is a Soviet citizen, and his love for his city is very evident. This album is the latest in a series of photographic compilations from the Russian Empire; the book that comes closest to it is Chloe Obolensky's The Russian Empire: A Portrait in Photographs ( LJ 1/80). The current work is even more evocative than Obolensky's and in a way seems curiously timely in light of the intense interest so many Soviet citizens now have in the pre-Soviet history of their country. It is a monument to imperial Russia in one of the world's most beautiful cities."