20th century: Dissidence & Emigre
GERTSEN, Aleksandr Ivanovich [Alexander HERZEN].
Byloe i dumy: Pervoe polnoe izdanie [My Past and Thoughts: First complete edition].
First complete edition of Herzen's main work and "great historical classic" (Sviatopolk-Mirskii). Scarce: we could not trace any example at auction in or outside Russia in recent decades. Read more
Read MoreFine copy of the first edition in book form, one of 3,000 copies. This long poem, written in 1914, first appeared in the magazine Apollon in 1915, and represents a summing-up of Akhmatova's early manner.
Read MoreFirst edition of one of Akhmatova's most famous works. One of 500 copies only. Written between 1935 and 1940, 'Requiem' was not published in Russia until 1987.
Read More20th century: Dissidence & Emigre
SKITALETS [pseud. of Stepan Gavrilovich PETROV].
O znamenitykh russkikh liudiakh [On Famous Russian People].
A very rare Japanese imprint. We are not aware of any other example having been on the market, and we could locate only two copies of this first edition in public institutions worldwide
Read MoreFirst edition of this important collection of stories on Soviet labour camps, which Shalamov (1907-82), a poet and man of letters on the wrong side of the Soviet authorities
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
PUSHKIN, Aleksandr Sergeevich, Sergey LIFAR and Prof. M. L. GOFMAN (editors).
[Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829].
Fine copy of this private production, from the very rare issue of 50 copies only, each one bearing the printed name of the recipient, this one from the 30 copies on papier de Hollande, after 20 on Japon. Another issue was limited to 200 copies, without specific recipients... Read more
Read More20th century: Dissidence & Emigre
BULGAKOV, Mikhail Afanasyevich.
Zapiski iunogo vracha; Diavoliada and Other Stories [Notes of a Young Doctor; Diaboliad and Other Stories].
Comprising 10 stories first published in 1922-1926. The typescript partially reproduces the first and the only book by Bulgakov to be published in Russia during his lifetime.
Read MoreLiterature: European languages
DUPRÉ DE SAINT-MAURE, Jean-Pierre-Émile (editor).
Anthologie russe, suivie de poésies originales.
Pushkin and the Golden Age of Russian poetry come to the West: the very first publication of Russia's celebrated poet in Western Europe in the first anthology of Russian poetry in French.
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
DOSTOEVSKY, Fedor Mikhailovich.
Besy [The Devils, sometimes The Possessed or Demons].
One of Dostoevsky's great novels, and the first of his books published by Dostoevsky himself. Besy captures "the full grandeur of Dostoevsky's extraordinary endeavor[ ]"
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Pervyi vinokur ili kak chertenok kraiushku zasluzhil. Komediia [The First Distiller, or How the Little Devil Earned his Crust. A Comedy].
The rare first edition of Tolstoy's first play, in the original wrappers. The First Distiller is a comedy on the evils of drink.
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Khoziain i rabotnik. Rasskaz [Master and Man. A Story].
The first edition of one of Tolstoy's greatest and most popular short stories, with the original wrappers. This copy bears the correct first issue points
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
BLOK, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich.
O liubvi, poezii i gosudarstvennoi sluzhbe [Dialogue About Love, Poetry and Government Service].
Pleasant example of this uncommon work, which grew out of the play 'The King on the Square' (1907) and first appeared the same year in the magazine 'Pereval'. It reflects Blok's personal crisis, as well as his observations on the Russian society and the 1905 Revolution.
Read More20th century: Avant-Garde
ESENIN, Sergei, with Boris PASTERNAK, Andrei BELII et al.
Iav'. Stikhi [Reality. Poems].
Exceptional association copy of this scandalous book of imagist poems, extensively inscribed by three co-authors including Esenin - to a fourth one, Alexander Olenin (1865-1944).
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
YERMOLOV, Aleksei Petrovich, also ERMOLOV.
[Notes of Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov about the war of 1812 [Zapiski Alekseia Petrovicha Ermolova o voine 1812 goda].
A detailed account of the Great Patriotic War by one of the most distinguished Russian military leaders. The important émigré first edition, printed in London and forbidden in Russia. A very good example with the rare printed wrapper bound-in. Read more
Read More20th century: Dissidence & Emigre
SOLZHENITSYN, Aleksandr Isaevich.
Odin den Ivana Denisovich [One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich].
The rare first edition of Solzhenitsyn's first published book; a celebrated "pirate" edition published abroad without the author's consent.
Read More20th century: Dissidence & Emigre
Posle Rossii. 1922-1925 [After Russia. 1922-1925].
First edition of Tsvetaeva's last book of poems, one of her major works, banned in the USSR; a lovely example, in original wrappers, one of 500 only, including 100 not for sale.
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
ALBERT THE GREAT and Mekhitar SEBASTATSI (editor).
Mec Alpert; t argmaneceal i va n ouc amanakac , i mecamecac vardapetac meroc , i Lat in lezu i Hay barba : Ew nardenis i luys acec eal, ew srbagre ceal... [Compendium of Theology of St. Albert the Great].
Opening a new, important page in the history of Armenian printing: the first work printed by Mekhitar of Sebaste in Venice, and very possibly the first work he edited.
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Kreitzerova sonata; Poslesloviye k 'Kreitzerovoi sonate' [Kreitzer Sonata; Afterward to Kreitzer Sonata].
Second edition, corrected according to Tolstoy's original manuscript. The novel began circulating in scripts the moment Tolstoy finished it, after eight drafts, in November 1889.
Read MoreFirst Feltrinelli edition in Russian (the third overall), first printing, issued in the very attractive and distinctive dust jacket designed by Ampelio Tettamanti (1914-1961), matching that of the first edition in Italian
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Detstvo i Otrochestvo. [Childhood and Adolescence]
Tolstoy's own editing of his first novel: a lovely example, rare in original wrappers, of this second edition, specially adapted for children's reading and showing for the first time a different version from the standard text. Becoming a father of many children in the 1860s and 70s, Tolstoy developed a keen interest in educational practices... Read more
Read MoreThe first edition of the play "The Power of Darkness", which was forbidden by the tsarist censorship for the stage until 1895. The play was based on the criminal case of a peasant from the Tula province
Read MoreThe first complete edition - and the first book edition - of the celebrated novel. Tolstoy started writing Anna Karenina in early 1873; in May 1873 he finished the first draft.
Read MoreFirst edition: an anthology of poetry, including pieces by Solovyov, Blok, Bely, Voloshin, Gorodetskii, Gumilev, Viacheslav Ivanov, Kuzmin, and Tsvetaeva.
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Krylia. Povest v trekh chastiakh. [Wings. A Tale in Three Parts.]
First book edition of the first Russian homoerotic novel. The 1905 revolution forced Nicholas II to endorse a parliamentary system, and to abolish practically all pre-emptive censorship of the press.
Read MoreThe first scholarly edition of the censored and provocative work by Russia's greatest national poet. Bored and revolted by the pious hypocrisy of the Russian Orthodox Church, Pushkin wrote this blasphemous and erotic poem, satirising the Church's most revered dogmas of Annunciation... Read more
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Smert Ivana Ilicha. Plody Prosveshcheniia [The Death of Ivan Ilich. Fruits of Enlightenment].
One of the great short stories in all literature (Terras): a pinnacle of Tolstoy's introspection, published here together with his provocative play, a satire of Russian aristocracy. A fine example of this influential work, scarce in any edition... Read more
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
PUSHKIN, A[leksandr Sergeevich].
Bratia razboiniki [The Robber Brothers].
Pushkin on one sheet: an excellent copy preserved as a single folded broadsheet, unstitched and unopened, including the printed wrappers. This is the second edition, published the same year as the first. This unfinished narrative poem, written in 1822, had appeared in 'Polarania zvezda' [Pole Star] for 1825. Read more
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
Bliznets v tuchakh [A Twin in Storm Clouds].
Rare first edition of the Nobel's winner's first book, one of 200 copies. When 'Bliznets v tuchakh' came out on the cusp of 1914, the Russian critics, especially the futurists led by Vladimir Mayakovsky, were sceptical.
Read MoreFirst appearance in print of this short story, originally indended to be included in the "Diaboliad". In her discussion of "Khanskii ogon", Haber detects a distinct pessimism in Bulgakov's account of Prince Tugai-Beg
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
[D’AGOULT, Charles (Attrib.)].
Akh, kak vy glupy gospoda frantsuzy. [Oh, How Stupid You Are Mr Frenchmen].
Attractive example of this anti-revolutionary tract, first published in Paris in 1790 as Bon Dieu! Qu'ils sont bêtes ces Français! This work takes a strong stance against the free-thinking works of Voltaire, and what are seen as the sacrilegious ideas of the French Materialist philosophers... Read more
Read MoreFirst edition of the first book by one of Russia's greatest 20th-century poets. The thin book is in itself a symbol of the pre-revolutionary Russia
Read MoreLiterature: European languages
MONTESKE – MONTESQUIEU, Charles Louis de.
Pisma persidskiia. S frantsuskago iazyka perevel kol. sov. Efim Roznotovskii. [Lettres persanes.] [Persian Letters. Translated from French by the Collegiate Councillor Efim Roznotovskii].
A masterpiece of French Enlightenment in Catherine's Russia: very rare early translation of Montesquieu, the first illustrated. Completed in 1721, this important piece of French literature recounts in 161 letters the experiences of two Persian noblemen... Read more
Read MoreLiterature: Russian and neighbours
PUSHKIN, Aleksandr, LIFAR Sergey (editor).
Puteshestvie v Arzrum vo vremia pokhoda 1829 goda [A Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829].
The first book edition of Pushkin's best travel account, including an unpublished draft and limited to 200 copies only. This Journey to Arzrum published by the famous dancer, choreographer and collector Sergei Mikhailovich Lifar (1905-86), was among the most important publications of Pushkiniana outside of Russia. Read more
Read MoreThe true first Russian edition of the celebrated and accidentally controversial novel by the great Russian Silver Age poet, a piracy created with close involvement of the CIA.
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