[RUSSIA, Emancipation of the serfs: rare pamphlet offering a synopsis of the emancipation acts].

[ALEXANDER II, Tsar of all Russia]

Краткое изложеніе правъ и обязанностей крестьянъ и дворовыхъ людей, вышедшихъ изъ крѣпостной зависимости. [A brief summary of the rights and duties of the peasantry and house-serfs relieved from feudal dependency].

[St. Petersburg: ]1861. Octavo. Pp. [i-ii;] 1-37 [i-vi]. Uncut and largely unopened. (Light surface soiling to first and last page). Stitched.

Provenance: small ink stamp at foot of final page (see images).

The 1861 Emancipation of Russian Serfs was the single most important reform of the reign of Tsar Alexander II: the present surprisingly rare work was apparently intended as the vehicle by which the new laws might be explained to the people.

On the 19th February 1861 the Emancipation of the Serfs was proclaimed by Tsar Alexander.  Almost 23 million people were affected. On the 10th March 1861 the act permitting the publication and promulgation of the emancipation acts was ratified. The present synopsis of the laws was the immediate result. It was widely distributed, the intention being that it should be studied by tiny portion of the population who were literate, particularly the priests. Then, during Lent, the synopsis should be read out-loud and explained from church pulpits to the largely illiterate peasantry.