Littérature russe | PY Rare Books

Image for S. DOVLATOV. Marsh odinikikh. First edition, inscribed. Holyoke, 1983. #2

A chronicle of the early 1980s in the US Russian community

DOVLATOV, Sergei

Marsh odinokikh [The March of the Lonely]

Holyoke, New England Publishing Co, 1983. £2,250

First edition thus, inscribed to a fellow journalist and author.

Image for S. DOVLATOV. Nashi [Ours]. First edition, inscribed. Ann Arbor, 1983. #2

"One only wants to be like Chekhov"

DOVLATOV, Sergei

Nashi [Ours]

Ardis, Ann Arbor, 1983. £2,500

First edition of this collection of short stories by the famous Russian author. An appealing example, inscribed by Dovlatov to a figure of the US Russian emigration.

Image for S. DOVLATOV. Zona. First edition, inscribed. Ann Arbor, 1982. #2

His "most important book" - inscribed

DOVLATOV, Sergei

Zona: zapiski nadziratelia [The Zone: A Prison Camp Guard's Story]

Ermitazh, Ann Arbor, 1982. £3,000

First edition Dovlatov's famous work, inscribed to a figure of the Russian emigration in the US.

Image for I. ERENBURG. Poems. First edition, Paris, 1910. #2

A review copy of his rare first book

ERENBURG, Ilia Grigorevich

Stikhi [Poems]

Parizh, [privately printed for the author], 1910. £1,500

An interesting, annotated example of this first edition of Erenburg's first book, here in its original wrappers. Rarely found - one of 100 copies only.

Image for NARBUT & KRYLOV. Basni [Fables]. Knebel, Moscow, 1912, first edition with these illustrations. #2

Fables in silhouette

NARBUT, Egor (artist) and Ivan Andreevich KRYLOV

Basni Krylova [Krylov's Fables]

Knebel, Moskva, [1912]. £850

Some of the most famous Russian fables here illustrated by the leading Ukrainian artist. Scarce in this lovely condition.

Image for ZIDE [SIEDE] & GROMOV, Nezhnyia obiatiia v brake... First edition, St. Petersburg, 1798. #2

Tender Embraces in Marriage - or Pastime with Venal Mistresses? Fine copy of a famous rarity

[ZIDE, Iogann Khristoforovich [Johann Christian SIEDE] and Gleb GROMOV (translator)]

Nezhnyia obiatiia v brake i potekhi s liubovnitsami (prodazhnymi) izobrazheny i sravneny pravdoliubom [Tender Embraces in Marriage and Pastime with (Venal) Mistresses, Depicted and Compared by a Truth Seeker]

Shnor, Skt. Peterburg, [1798]. £9,500

A risqué book for Russian readers of the 1800s onwards, celebrated as a rarity by many bibliographers. A lovely copy of the first edition, in contemporary binding and fine condition.

Image for S. ESENIN. Poems of Scandalist. First edition, in Russian. Berlin, 1923. #2

My best poems - in Isadora Duncan's company

ESENIN, Sergei (also Sergei YESENIN)

Stikhi skandalista [Poems of a Scandalist]

Nakanune for Blagov, Berlin, 1923. £3,500

Pleasant example of the frst edition of this important collection. With a famous cycle, banned in the USSR. Published in Berlin but scarce on the market outside Russia.

Image for G. SHVETSOV. Three works on Tsar Alexander II and Russia, inscribed to Olga Aleksandrovna. St. Petersburg, 1884-87. #2

Inscribed by the liberated serf to the Tsar's natural daughter

[ROMANOVS – ALEXANDER II] – SHVETSOV, Gordei Mikhaïlovich

Sochineniia russkogo poeta prostoliudina [Title on cover] [Works of the Russian Common-Man Poet]

Dobrodeev, Skt. Peterburg, 1887, 1884 and 1885. £4,750

A fascinating volume concentrating various aspects of Tsar Alexander's II legacy, with poems celebrating his achievements, written by a former, freed serf and inscribed to the tsar's daughter with his mistress. An exceptional copy.

Image for B. PASTERNAK. Selected Poems. First edition, Moscow, 1926. In wrappers. #2

First poetry collection of a future Nobel Prize

PASTERNAK, Boris

Izbrannye stikhi [Selected Poems]

Uzel, Moskva, 1926. £950

Superb copy of this early collection of Pasternak's poems. First edition, scarce outside Russia.

Image for K. R. [Konstantin ROMANOV]. Poems and New Poems, in the original Russian, bound together. St. Petersburg, 1889. #2

The most august of Russian poets

K. R. [pseud. for Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich ROMANOV]

Stikhotvoreniia K. R.: 1879-1885 [bound with] Novye stikhotvoreniia K. R.: 1886-1888 [Poems of K. R.: 1879-1885, bound with: New Poems of K. R.: 1886-1888]

Iz gos. tip., Skt. Peterburg, 1889. £1,450

Two volumes in one of the lyrics of Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov. A friend of Tchaikovsky and key patron of the arts in the last decades of the Russian Empire, the Grand Duke concealed his poetical activities behind the initials "K. R.". A fine example of these rare editions.

Image for A. AKHMATOVA. 50 Stikhotvorenii [50 Poems]. Paris, 1963. In fine condition. #2

Unauthorised edition

AKHMATOVA, Anna

50 stikhotvorenii [50 poems]

Paris, YMCA-Press, 1963. £650

Fine copy, in its original printed wrappers, of this large-format edition of some of the poems of Russia's great poetess. Printed with a mimeograph machine.

Image for M. LOMONOSOV. Works in Verse, in the original Russian. St. Petersburg, 1893. #2

In the publisher's binding

LOMONOSOV, Mikhail Vasilevich

Sochineniia v stikhakh [Works in Verse]

Marks, Skt. Peterburg, 1893. £175

A lovely small volume with Lomonosov's poetical production. The binding remained fresh, which is unusual.

Image for J. BRODSKY. Verses and Poems, first edition in the original Russia. USA, 1965. #2

A Nobel Prize's first book

BRODSKII, Iosif [also Joseph BRODSKY]

Stikhotvoreniia i poemy [Verses and Poems]

Inter-Language Literary Associates, Washington, D.C.-New York, 1965. £750

First edition of an important start: the future nobel prize winner's first collection of poems that had to be published abroad after he was sentenced to five years of hard labor for "social parasitism" in 1964.

Image for PASTERNAK. Sestra moia zhizn. Second edition, 1923. #2

Praised by Tsvetaeva

PASTERNAK, Boris

Sestra moia zhizn [My Sister Life]

Grzhebin, Berlin, Peterburg and Moskva, 1923. £450

Lovely second edition of this important cycle of poetry by the future Nobel Prize winner. The first edition with Annekov's portrait, in the original wrappers.

Image for TOLSTOY, Zhivoi Trup [A Living Corpse], first book edition in the original Russian, Moscow, 1912 #1

Tolstoy's answer to Chekhov - unopened

TOLSTOY, Lev Nikolaevich [TOLSTOI]

Zhivoi trup. Drama v 6 deistviyakh i 12 kartinakh [A Living Corpse. A drama in 6 acts and 12 scenes]

I.D. Sytin for Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya, Moskva, 1912. £1,000

First separate edition of Tolstoy's play, a large-format quality production, with illustrations. A lovely example, unopened in the charming art-nouveau wrappers.

Tolstoy wrote in his diary, "that in A Living Corpse there are notes inspired by Chekhov's work. Such is the secret of artistic creativeness".

Image for F. DOSTOEVSKII. Idiot. Skt. Peterburg, 1884. In wrappers. #2

One of his masterpieces in wrappers

DOSTOEVSKII, Fedor [also DOSTOEVSKY]

Idiot [The Idiot]

Suvorin, Skt. Peterburg, 1884. £1,250

An early edition of Dostoesvky's great novel, in superb condition: a very rare case in any example of Russian literature of the 19th century.

Image for I. GONCHAROV. Obryv. First edition, St. Petersburg, 1870. #2

"This is the child of my heart"

GONCHAROV, Ivan

Obryv [The Precipice]

Skt. Peterburg, Tip. Morskogo Ministerstva, 1870. £2,500

First edition in book form of this novel, Goncharov's last. A fresh, crisp example.

Image for Charles P. de KOCK. La Laitière de Montfermeil in Russian, first edition. Skt. Peterburg, 1832. #2

French peasants in Russian literature

KOK, Pol de [Charles Paul de KOCK]

Monfermelskaia molochnitsa [La Laitière de Montfermeil]

Pliushar [Pluchart], Skt. Peterburg, 1832. £1,450

First Russian edition, rare, in an attractive copy. A great example of cross-cultural literary exchange at the time of some of the best Russian literature.

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