Silver Age - Serebrianyi vek

Image for M. KUZMIN. Vtornik Meri. First edition, one of 100 copies. St. Petersburg, 1921. #2

"For live puppets"

Vtornik Meri. Predstavlenie v trekh chastiakh dlia kukol zhivykh ili dereviannykh [Mary's Tuesday. A Spectacle in Three Parts for Live or Wooden Puppets]

Petrograd, Petropolis, 1921. £950

One of 100 numbered copies, in lovely condition: an attractive example of this diminutive edition.

Image for S. ESENIN. Radnitsa. First edition, St. Petersburg, 1916. #2

Esenin's first published book

ESENIN, Sergei Aleksandrovich

Radunitsa [Ritual for the Dead]

M.V. Averianov, Petrograd, 1916. £2,500

First edition of this important book of poetry, Esenin's first offered for sale. In the original wrappers. Scarce: no copy traced in public institutions outside Russia.

Image for Burliuk, Exter, Vasilieva, Livshits, Futuristy, inscribed, 1914 #1

Warmly inscribed by Burliuk

BURLIUK, David, Aleksandra EKSTER, Maria VASILIEVA (artists) and Benedict LIVSHITS (author)

Volchie solntse. Kniga stikhov vtoraia [v] "Futuristy" [Sun of wolves. Second book of poetry [in] "Futurists"]

Ekonomiia, Kherson, for Gileia, Kherson-Moskva, 1914. £2,950

First edition of this collection of futurist poetry, inscribed by Burliuk to "the best customer" Lev Grinkrug. A lovely book, finely illustrated with plates by Burliuk and two famous Russian avant-garde female artists: Exter and Vasilieva.

Image for BLOK & ANNENKOV. Dvenadsta [The Twelve]. First edition. St. Petersburg, 1918. #2

"The best I've written"

BLOK, Aleksandr and Iurii ANNENKOV (artist)

Dvenadtsat [The Twelve]

Skt. Peterburg, 15aia Gos. Tip. for Alkonost, 1918. £6,500

Rare first edition of one of the best modernist books and a Russian 'livre d'artiste', published in the aftermath of the Revolution and WW1. One of 300 copies only, this one kept in its original printed wrappers.

Image for A. REMIZOV & L. BAKST. Tsar Dodon. First edition, 1921. #2

Bakst in miniature erotica

REMIZOV, Aleksei Mikhailovich and Leon BAKST (artist)

Tsar Dodon

Obeziania velikaia volnaia palata [Alkonost, Petrograd], 1921. £1,500

Fine example of the first edition of this Russian erotica, this copy with a printed limitation statement. Rare outside Russia and in such nice condition.

Image for TSVETAEVA, M. Poet i vremia. First edition. Prague, 1932. #2

The great poetess' comments on poetry

TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna

Poet i vremia [The Poet and Time]

Volia Rossii, Prague, 1932. £650

Scarce first publication of Tsvetaeva's important essay on poetry.

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 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 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 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 A. AKHMATOVA. Belaia staia. Third edition, Peterburg, 1922. #2

When she was still allowed in Soviet Union

AKHMATOVA, Anna

Belaia staia [White Flock]

Peterburg, 23aia. Gos. Tip. for Alkonost, 1922. £375

Fresh example of this uncommon, early edition of Akhmatova's third book.

Image for AKHMATOVA, A. U samogo moria. First edition, 1921. #2

A Black Sea youth

AKHMATOVA, Anna

U samogo moria [At the Edge of the Sea]

Alkonost, Skt. Peterburg, 1921. £750

The first edition of this important autobiographical poem by one of the best Russian poets, and a victim of Soviet censorship.

Image for TSVETAEVA, M. Razluka, first edition. Berlin, 1922. #2

Partially unopened, in the publisher's boards

TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna

Razluka [Separation]

Sinaburg & co. for Gelikon, Moskva - Berlin, 1922. £1,500

An attractive example of this fragile production, Tsvetaeva's first poetry collection published abroad. First edition.

Image for PARNOK, S. Vpolgolosa, first edition, inscribed. Moscow, 1928. #2

"Russia's Sapho" and her circle of female friends

PARNOK, Sofiia

Vpolgolosa. Stkihi 1926-1927 [Half-Whispered. Poems 1926-1927]

Uzel, Moskva, 1928. £4,250

An inscribed copy of Parnok's last collection of verses: a very rare work by a Russian woman standing out in the literary landscape of the country.

Image for GRIGORIEV & CHERNYI, Detskii ostrov, first edition, Berlin 1921. #2

Famous Russian children book

CHERNYI, Sasha (pseud. for Aleksandr Mikhailovich GLIKBERG) and Boris GRIGORIEV (artist)

Detskii ostrov [The Children's Island]

[Danzig and Berlin], Uhlstein for Slowo, 1921. £1,950

Grigoriev's famous children book, in the original publisher's binding; a very good example.

Image for TSVETAEVA, BLOK, BELYI, VOLOSHIN... Antologiia. Musaget, Moscow, 1911. First edition. #2

With many important poets of the Silver Age

TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna, et al

Antologiia [Anthology]

Musaget, Moskva, 1911. £1,000

The young Tsvetaeva among other greats: Blok, Belyi, Solovev, Voloshin etc. Her second appearance in print, and the first of two poems of hers. With the original printed wrappers.

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