Pp. (ii) 260. With engraved extra title & two engraved frontispieces; 14 engraved hand-coloured costumes plates; one large folding hand- coloured plate and two folding tables; several engraved pictorial headpieces and engraved decorated initials. The second work comprises an engraved hand-coloured title and 15 engraved plates depicting 90 different flags - all beautifully hand coloured. Contemporary calf with elaborate gilt borders to boards; flat spine richly decorated in gilt; expertly re-backed with original spine preserved. All edges are gilt. Decorated endpapers. Both works were printed at the Mechitarist press in the Armenian monastery on the island of St. Lazarus outside Venice. In 1717, St. Lazarus was given to a group of Armenian monks that had escaped from Turkish persecution. The monks - called the 'Mekhitarist Order' - built a monastery that started to publish a vast number of Armenian historical philological and literary works. At first, it used foreign printing houses, but after a few years, the community bought its own press. Ghukas Inchichian published many popular almanacs and magazines at St. Lazarus, and he is considered the primary precursor of the periodical press in modern Armenian. According to Nersessian, other copies of the almanac are bound with the "Flags of all nations." A beautiful work in a lovely binding probably produced at the monastery itself. The text is in Armenian. Coloured plates in order. The Byzantine Season Almanack. 1. Male warrior in winter dress. 2. Male in winter hunting dress with bow and arrow. 3. Male hunter, in full winter dress. 4. Male in summer dress with bow and arrow. 5. Male in a blue coat, with bow and arrow. 6. Male with 'water skies' and paddle. 7. Male on horseback. 8. Male hunter in winter dress with bow and arrow. 9. Female in winter dress. 10. Female in full winter dress. 11. Female in winter dress with bow and arrow. 12. Female in a full-length red dress. 13. Large folding plate. A female being thrown in a flaming pit (funeral?) watched by a crowd of mourners?; including musicians etc. 14. Female warrior with shield and knife. 15. Female in winter clothes, collecting vegetables in a basket. Flags of all Nations. 16. Engraved title page. 17-31. World flags. [6 flags to a page].