The first book about the history of ballet in Russia. Pleshcheev A. Our ballet (1673-1899). Ballet in Russia until ...

The first book about the history of ballet in Russia. Pleshcheev A. Our ballet (1673-1899). Ballet in Russia until the beginning of the XIX century and ballet in St. Petersburg until 1899.
Second expanded edition with a Preface by K. Skalkovsky.

St. Petersburg: Edition F. Pereyaslavtzeva and A. Pleshcheyev. 1899, p. 472 Hardcover, 21 x 28.5 cm. Excellent condition.

180 portraits and drawings. Modern French semi-leather binding. Minor contamination of the title page and several pages.

Alexander Alekseyevich Pleshcheev (19 October 1858, Saint Petersburg — 5 December 1944, Paris) was a Russian writer, playwright, journalist, theater critic, ballet historian, and emigrant.

Son of the famous poet Alexey Nikolaevich Pleshcheev. He was married to the actress E. N. Roshchina-Insarova.

Graduated from the First Saint Petersburg gymnasium. He performed as a dramatic actor on the stages of the Maly theater in Moscow and the Alexandrinsky theater in St. Petersburg. He wrote about 30 plays, five of which are presented on the stage of the Alexandrinsky theater, and the rest are mainly in the theater of the Literary and artistic society. Among these plays is the Comedy "in its role", about the life of the actors themselves.

It was published in 1876. In addition to plays, he wrote various short stories, travel essays, and memoirs about Russian actors and writers, including I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, D. V. Grigorovich, M. E. Saltykov, A. p. Chekhov, M. Gorky, A. N. Pleshcheev, S. ya. Nadson, and N. A. Morozov. 

Collaborated with the newspaper "the Petersburg leaf", "Moscow sheet", "Music light", "St. Petersburg Vedomosti", "Novoye Vremya" and others.

He was a publisher himself:

Newspapers, and later the magazine "Theatrical world" (1884-1886)

the newspaper " Petersburg diary of a theater-goer "(1903-1905)

the magazine "Seine" (1906-1907)

The author of the book "Our ballet (1673-1896)" (1896) — the first book about the history of ballet in Russia from the XVII to the end of the XIX century.

In 1919, he emigrated to France, where he continued to work as a theater critic and memoirist.

In Paris, he published the books "Under the shadow of the wings "(1936) and "Sergei Lifar" (1938).