Available from Caliver Books at 33 pounds for both volumes.

These two very competently privately published spiral bound volumes first appeared a couple of years ago. Each consists of approximately 150 A4 pages and are a translation of two volumes from the famous 30 volume work by Aleksandr Vasilevich Viskovatov on the organization, dress and weaponry of the Russian army between 1801 and 1825. The original dates from 1851 and was "Compiled by Highest direction Saint Petersburg, Military Typography Office". The provenance of the material, therefore, is impeccable. Indeed, in the bibliography to the recent reprint of von Stein's 1885 two volume Geschichte des Russischen Heeres, other well known scholarly works, including Zweguintzov's highly regarded L'Armee Russe, are described as no more than supplements to Viskovatov's. What we have here, then, is part of the definitive study of the Russian army during the first quarter of the 19th Century, and which is quite without peer.

The two volumes reviewed here are concerned with organization and uniforms respectively. So, what does one get? The simple answer is probably the most authoritative record of the subject matter available anywhere. Opening the first volume one is presented with the "Changes in the Composition and Nomenclature of all Forces from 1801 to 1825". The following 25 chapters start with the line infantry and other arms, progressing through the various supporting services, via the guard and Cossacks. Nothing is omitted. Higher formations, the administrative structures and temporary wartime organisations are also discussed in similar detail. This is nothing less than the complete Russian army order of battle during the period down to unit level.

The second volume comprises the illustrations, numbers 1274 to 1400 of the approximately 4000 lithographs that accompanied the entire original work. These 126, however, are concerned only with the infantry arm and are not the originals but expertly copied line drawings together with the original notes and dates of directives, and so on, these providing the most detailed description of every conceivable item of clothing and equipment. We are told, for example, that when not in use the greatcoat "is to be rolled 6½ inches wide and worn over the left shoulder so that the soldier can freely hold the musket behind it".

There is little one can say about these two volumes that is not positive. I would have preferred the illustrations in their original form rather than drawings but I suspect that this was not technically possible in a private venture such as this. It is also unfortunate that because Volume Two only deals with the infantry, it does not entirely complement Volume One. Illustrations of cavalry and artillery certainly exist and presumably there is a similar volume devoted to those arms. Hopefully Mark Conrad will produce a translation of that for us in due course. There is also the price. At 33 pounds in the UK this seems a lot. American readers will pay only $34US. On the other hand, the reprint of Stein, which covers a longer period, much of which is of little interest to most of us, will cost you 100 pounds and is not as detailed as these two volumes.

Mark Conrad has done a remarkable job in providing us with the rare opportunity to acquire part of an incomparable and otherwise inaccessible, one could say for most of us incomprehensible, source. If the Russian army is your interest then I suggest you dig deep in your pockets and get this translation while you can.

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