The presented book is the first attempt to apply a systematic approach to the large corpus of printed materials published to date on the Russian awarding practice and the Russian Orders in particular.

A very detailed source of information about all existing Russian Orders, this book also contains sections on Gold �rosses awarded to Russian Army �fficers in late 18th - early 19th centuries, St. George's collective awards, St. George's Regiments of the Russian Army and Weapons as Awards. For the first time since 1892, the complete version of "The Institution of Orders and other Insignia" (from "The Code of State Institutions"), the fundamental guidebook for the Russian Awarding System in its entirety, will be published, which we will have as an Appendage to our book. This record is an essential source of reference for every author writing on the topic, although not always duly acknowledged.

Our book also features a big collection of high quality illustrations and an ample reference section. It also contains the complete list of Holders of the Order of Saint Andrew the First Called, which is the first instance it's published in Russia since 1917. The scrupulous reader may find in here something to argue about, but, as already mentioned above, together with archival documents, the author used printed materials on phaleristics published in the USSR or being currently published in Russia.

The author will gratefully welcome any comments or suggestions, which you may have after reading this book.

Documents used while working on this book include archival materials from the State Public History Library of Russia, the Russian State Library (the former Lenin's Library), the Russian State Military and History Archives, The Naval Museum of the Pacific Fleet and the Arsenyev's Primorsky State Museum. Also contributing to this book were publications by various authors, including A.Averbach, D.Varlamov, G.Zaschuk, G.Vilinbachov, V.Durov, A.Kirillin, A.Korotkov, A.Kuznetsov, A.Kutsenko, S.Levin, E.Lozovsky, Y.Lubchenkov, V.Lustiberg, I.Mozheiko, S.Ploticher, A.Proshlyakov, S.Samonin, S.Serkov, I.Spassky, Y.Trambitsky, G.Fedorov, N.Chepurnov, A.Shakhov and others.

The author would like to express special gratitude to V.Baskin, D.Varlamov, Yu.Golovin, N.Kritsky, G.Mastetsov, G.Mazyarkin, V.Polonchuck and I.Shugalei for their kind assistance and cooperation.