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A V Yaremenko, Nicholai Konstantinovich Roerich, His Life and Creations During the Past Forty Years 1889-1929, New York: Central Book Trading Co., 1931

A complete suite of unbound 119 colour and black-and-white reproductions of Roerich's paintings, of which 36 are in four colours and 86 in two colours or tinted half tones, printed on heavy stock paper and Nubian paper, with each plate captioned at the lower bottom on a tipped-in silver paper + picture of the Roerich museum + frontispiece + cover illustration + 32-page introductory text titled "Anniversary Publication on Nicholas Roerich 1889-1929", unbound and in original wax paper; original cloth-backed suede with mounted portrait of Nicholas Roerich by his son, patterned end papers; enclosed in a marbled slipcase.
13.25 x 10.25 x 2 in (34 x 26 x 5.5 cm)
13.5 x 10.25 x 2.25 in (34.5 x 26 x 6 cm) (with slipcase)

This is edition number 3 from a limited edition of 1000 copies. Signed by the author.

A MONUMENTAL VISUAL AND SPIRITUAL RETROSPECTIVE: THE 1931 SIGNED AND LIMITED EDITION OF ROERICH’S FORTY-YEAR ANNIVERSARY ALBUM, NO. 3 OF 1000 COPIES

This sumptuous anniversary volume commemorates the first forty years (1889–1929) of Nicholas K Roerich’s artistic, cultural, and spiritual odyssey, encompassing his evolution as a painter, explorer, archaeologist, and spiritual leader. Compiled by A V Yaremenko—an active chronicler of Roerich’s life and works—the volume stands at the nexus of visual, historical, and philosophical documentation.

Printed in 1931 by New York's Central Book Trading Co. and limited to 500 copies, the book begins with a 47-page “Anniversary Publication” essay featuring biographical sketches, critical reflections, and contextual framing of Roerich’s mission. The following 122 plates—36 in vibrant four-colour and 86 monochrome or tinted reproductions—are unbound and tipped individually onto high-weight paper stock, providing an artful, album-style presentation.

Among the plates are iconic works from Roerich’s Himalayan expeditions, Russian symbolism, and Central Asian explorations. They include meditative landscapes, architectural studies, ritual scenes, and mystical imagery—subjects central to Roerich’s synthesis of spirituality, cultural heritage, and modernist aesthetics. Each image is captioned in silver script on a fine mount, enhancing the visual and tactile experience.

The binding—a cloth-backed suede with a photogravure cover portrait by his son Sviatoslav—demonstrates the Roerich family’s creative involvement. Patterned endpapers and the marbled slipcase place the work firmly within the tradition of deluxe art publications of the 1930s.

This publication offers a multi-layered experience: it is simultaneously a retrospective art portfolio, a biographical portrait, and a curated visual archive. As such, it offers priceless information about Roerich’s intellectual trajectory: from early Russian Symbolism to his Himalayan and Central Asian explorations and his emergence as the cultural leader behind the Roerich Pact and Agni?Yoga philosophy.

Compared with Roerich’s earlier monographs—such as Himalaya, a Monograph (1926)—Yaremenko’s volume is more retrospective and comprehensive in ambition, preserving works across forty formative years. The presentation of unbound plates, rather than in folio or book format, signals its use as a keepsake or artist’s album, aligning with Roerich’s emphasis on aesthetic presentation as part of the spiritual message.

This volume, which is signed and a limited edition, is exceedingly rare in the marketplace; intact copies complete with a slipcase are particularly uncommon. It is a critical resource for collectors and researchers in twentieth-century spiritual art, Himalayan studies, and Russian émigré cultural movements.