Erstausgaben Russischer Literatur | PY Rare Books

Image for SOLZHENITSYN, A. Odin den Ivana Denisovicha. First edition, Flegon, London, 1962. #1

With the rarest cover variant

Odin den Ivana Denisovicha [One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich]

Flegon Press, London, [1962]. £4,750

First edition of Solzhenitsyn's first book - here with the very rare variant of the cover showing a watchtower. A fine example of this great novel.

Image for SHALAMOV, V. Kolymskie rasskazy. First edition, in the original Russian, 1978. #1

With provenance

SHALAMOV, Varlam Tikhonovich

Kolymskie rasskazy [Kolyma Stories]

London, Overseas Publications Interchange, 1978. £1,250

First edition of this classic of "GULAG literature", with literary provenance.

Image for NAKHIMOV, Akim. Works in Verse and Prose. First edition, Kharkov, 1815. #2

Rare Russian fables from Ukraine

NAKHIMOV, Akim Nikolaevich

Sochineniia v stikhakh i proze [Works in Verse and Prose]

Universit. tip., Kharkov, 1815. £1,250

Early Russian fables (and other poetical works) at the dawn of Russia's Golden Age of Literature - the authors only book, written and printed in Kharkov, nowadays Ukraine. No copy traced outside Russia.

Tolstoy the playwright

TOLSTOY, Lev

Pervyi vinokur ili kak chertenok kraiushku zasluzhil. Komediia [The First Distiller, or How the Little Devil Earned his Crust. A Comedy]

I.D. Sytin for Posrednik, Moskva, 1886. £1,750

First edition of Tolstoy's successful play on wine and some of its effects... Lovely example in wrappers. Scarce.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Heart of a Dog, first Russian book edition. Paris, YMCA, 1969. #2

U-u-u-u-u-u... in first edition

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Sobache serdtse [Heart of a Dog]

Beresniak for YMCA, Paris, 1969. £1,450

Uncommon first book edition in Russian of Bulgakov's suppressed satirical masterpiece. A lovely copy in its original wrappers by Annenkov.

Image for Pushkin through the Caucasus, one of 50 copies, by Serge Lifar #1

Svetlov-Fekula copy - one of 50 only

PUSHKIN, Aleksandr Sergeevich, Sergey LIFAR and Prof. M. L. GOFMAN (editors)

Puteshestvie v Arzrum vo vremia pokhoda 1829 goda [Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829]

Lifar, Paris, 1934. £2,950

Pushkin's best travel account in a fine bibliophilic edition, one of 50 'ad nominem' copies only, this one for Valerian Svetlov.

Image for Akhmatova, Brodsky and others, Important poems and other texts, incl. Poem bez geroia [Poem Without a Hero], first editions. #1

The Pantheon of the Silver Age - a complete set

AKHMATOVA, Anna, Isaac BABEL, Iosif BRODSKII, Osip MANDELSHTAM, Vladimir NABOKOV, Boris PASTERNAK, Marina TSVETAEVA et al

Vozdushnye Puti [Airways. Almanach. Vols I-V]

New York, 1960-67. £1,500

The first publication of Akhmatova's 'Poem Without a Hero' [Poem bez geroia] - as well as many other works by some of the best Russian poets and authors of the 20th century: a complete set of this important literary almanac, rare so.

Image for Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog, first publication in Russian, Flegon, 1968. #1

U-u-u-u-u-u....: the first publication

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Sobache serdtse [Heart of a Dog]

London, Student, Flegon Press, 1968. £1,000

First publication in Russian of Bulgakov's suppressed satirical masterpiece, banned in Soviet Union until 20 years later.

Image for TOLSTOY, Childhood and Adolescence, Moskva, 1876; in wrappers. #1

In publisher's wrappers

TOLSTOY, Lev Nikolaevich

Detstvo i Otrochestvo [Childhood and Adolescence]

Torletskii and Terekhov, Moskva, 1876. £3,950

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.

Image for Esenin, Pasternak, Belii et al., Yav', Stikhi, first edition inscribed, 1919. #1

Fantastic association copy in striking binding

ESENIN, Sergei, with Boris PASTERNAK, Andrei BELII et al

Iav. Stikhi [Reality. Poems]

[Iav, Moskva], 1919. £9,500

Exceptional association copy of these scandalous Russian imaginist poems, extensively inscribed by three co-authors – including Esenin - to a fourth one, Alexander Olenin. With Aristarkh Lentulov's striking cover bound in a very unusual cloth-and-wicker binding of the time. One of the best, if not the best example of this famous book of Russian poetry.

Image for MANDELSHTAM, Kamen [Stone], first edition, Skt. Peterburg, 1913. #2

The very rare first edition

MANDELSHTAM, Osip Emilevich

Kamen [Stone]

Akme, Skt Peterburg, 1913. £12,500

First edition of the first book by one of Russia's greatest 20th-century poets. A very good example of this rare edition.

Image for Norov analyses Tolstoy's War and Peace: first edition of this rare pamphlet #2

Extensive contemporary analysis of Tolstoy's masterpiece

[TOLSTOY] – NOROV, Avraam Sergeevich

Voina i mir (1805-1812). S istoricheskoi tochki zrenia i po vospominaniam sovremennika. Po povodu sochinenia L.N.Tolstogo "Voina i mir" [War and Peace (1805-1812). From an Historical Perspective and Following Memories of a Contemporary. About the work of Count L.N. Tolstoy, "War and Peace"]

Tip. departamenta udelov, Skt. Peterburg, 1868. £850

A very rare extensive review and analysis of Tolstoy's masterpiece, published by a writer and book collector immediately when War and Peace's first edition was being brought out.

Image for L. TOLSTOY. War and Peace. First edition. Moscow, 1868-69. #2

Out of stock

Exceptionally fresh

TOLSTOY, Lev

Voina i mir [War and Peace]

Ris, Moskva, 1868-69.

First edition of this great classic of Russian, and indeed world literature. A fine set, in fresh condition.

Image for Ilf & Petrov, Ostap Bender: second part of The Golden Calf, first edition in wrappers, Riga, 1931 #1

Out of stock

The Twelve Chairs carry on

ILF i PETROV [ie. Ilya ILF and Evgeny PETROV]

Novyia pokhozhdeniia Ostapa Bendera: Kniga vtoraia romana "Zolotoi telenok" [New Adventures of Ostap Bender: Second part of the novel "The Golden Calf"].

Zhizn i kultura, Riga, 1931.

After "The Twelve Chairs": rare first edition of the second part of "The Golden Calf", Ilf and Petrov's beloved masterpiece of Soviet satire. A lovely example in original wrappers and published outside the Soviet Union.

Image for L. TOLSTOY. Anna Karenina. First edition, in contemporary binding. Moscow, 1878. #2

Out of stock

Anna Karenina in first edition and contemporary binding

TOLSTOY, Lev Nikolaevich

Anna Karenina

T.Ris, Moskva, 1878.

One of the best-known novels of Russian literature, here in first edition and in its first binding. A very good copy of this masterpiece, without major condition problem nor important restoration.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Master & Margarita. First complete edition, in the original Russian. Frankfurt, 1969. #2

Out of stock

First complete - with the striking dust-jacket

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Master i Margarita [Master and Margarita]

Possev-Verlag, Frankfurt/M., 1969.

Very attractive copy of one of the most important editions of this fantastic novel: the first complete edition, by the CIA-backed publisher Posev. Rarely found, here complete with its dust-jacket.

Image for A. AKHMATOVA., Rekviem [Requiem]. First edition, Munich. 1963 #2

Out of stock

Celebrated poetical tamizdat

AKHMATOVA, Anna

Rekviem [Requiem]

L. Andrejeff for T-vo Zarubezhnikh izdanii, Miunkhen, 1963.

First edition of one of Akhmatova's most famous works, considered by many to be her finest. An important tamizdat of one of the best Russian poets; one of 500 copies only.

Image for SOLZHENITSYN. Arkhipelag GULag. First edition, Paris, 1973-75 #2

Out of stock

His masterpiece

SOLZHENITSYN, Aleksandr

Arkhipelag Gulag [The Gulag Archipelago]

Imprimerie Moderne (vol. 1) and Impressions Internationales (vol. 2-3), for YMCA Press, Paris, 1973-75.

First edition of Solzhenitsyn's best work, an extensive account of the Soviet camps.

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