Ivan Snegiryov. "The Sukharev Tower in Moscow", 1862

The historian Ivan Snegiryov's book "The Sukharev Tower in Moscow" came out in 1862 as the first issue of the series "Russian Sights of Note". As its subtitle says, it was published "with a view of the tower and a portrait of Count Jacob Bruce". It tells the story of a building of old Moscow that no longer exists.

The Sukharev Tower was built in the late 17th century to a design by Mikhail Choglokov at the intersection of the Garden Ring and Sretenka Street. In 1701 it became home to the School of Mathematics and Navigation, headed by Jacob Bruce, who set up Russia's first astronomical observatory on one of the upper floors. His name is linked to the tale of a "black book" supposedly hidden in the tower's foundations. Ivan Snegiryov (1793–1868), a historian, ethnographer and folklorist and the first scholar of the Russian lubok print, also recounts other legends in his essay: for example, that of a hawk which, in 1812, before the French entered Moscow, became entangled in the wings of the double-headed eagle on the tower's tented roof, supposedly foretelling their flight.

In 1926 the Moscow Communal Museum, the forerunner of today's Museum of Moscow, opened in the Sukharev Tower. In 1934 the tower was demolished and the museum was moved to the Church of St John the Theologian under the Elm. This copy has a card cover with a calico spine; the title is printed in pre-reform spelling, and labels with library shelf marks are pasted in the upper corner of the cover.