USSR Soviet Union | PY Rare Books

Image for BULGAKOV, M. Master i Margarita, first edition. Paris, 1967. #2

Out of stock

First edition of one of the greatest Russian novels

Master i Margarita [Master and Margarita]

J. Floch, Mayenne, for YMCA-PRESS, Paris, 1967.

Pleasant example, in the original wrappers, of the first edition of this amazing novel, one of the best ever written in Russia. Banned in Soviet Union.

Image for A. AKHMATOVA. Anno Domini. Peterburg, 1923. #2

Out of stock

First appearance of new poems

AKHMATOVA, Anna

Anno Domini

Zinaburg, Berlin, for Petropolis and Alkonost, Peterburg, 1923 [printed in Oct. 1922].

Akhmatova's poetry during the Civil War, here in the first expanded edition.

Image for M. BULGAKOV. Adam & Eva. First version, samizdat, 1960s-70s. #2

Out of stock

Never published in his lifetime

BULGAKOV, Mikhail

Adam i Eva. Piesa v 4 aktakh [Adam and Eve. A play in 4 acts]

[Soviet Union, 1960s-70s].

The very first, Bulgakov's own version of his dystopian play, here in an attractive, unusual samizdat.

Image for [POSTCARD]. For a Sovereign Ukraine...! New York, 1951. #2

Out of stock

A topical ephemera

[UKRAINE]

Za suverennu Ukrainu i rozpodil Rosiiskoi imperii! For a Sovereign Ukraine and the Dismembering of the Russian Empire!

G. U. SUMA, New York, 1951.

Great and unusual US-printed postcard for Ukrainian independance from the Soviet Union, shown as an extension of the Russian empire.

Image for GROSSMAN, V. Vse techet. Posev, 1974 #2

Out of stock

"A bitter indictment of the Soviet system" (Terras)

GROSSMAN, Vasilii

Vse techet [Everything flows]

Posev, Frankfurt/Main, 1974.

Grossman's first novel being published abroad, and banned in Soviet Union until 1989. Pleasant example of this larger format edition.

Image for SHAKESPEARE & GOLDBERG, Romeo and Juliette in Yiddish, first edition, Minsk, 1935; inscribed. #2

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First in Yiddish - inscribed

SHAKESPEARE, William and I. GOLDBERG (translator)

Romeo un Zshulyete: tragedya in finf aktn [Romeo and Juliet: the Tragedy in Five Acts]

Minsk, Melukh-farlag fun Vaysrusland. Natssekter, 1935.

Lovely example of a rare book: the first 'Romeo and Juliet' published in Yiddish, here in fine condition and inscribed by the translator to a famous Yiddish author and professor.

Image for F. RASKOLNIKOV. Otkrytoe pismo Stalinu. Samizdat, 1960s-70s. #2

Out of stock

A Soviet ambassador against Stalin

RASKOLNIKOV, Fedor

Otkrytoe pismo Stalinu [An Open Letter to Stalin]

[Soviet Union, 1960s-70s].

Samizdat copy of a sharp criticism of Stalin's regim. Rare and dangerous in the USSR.

Image for PEVZNER & SHVARTS. Skotnyi dvor. First edition, Moscow, 1931. #2

Out of stock

Another Animal Farm - jolly and colourful

PEVZNER, Teodor (artist) and Evgenii SHVARTS [Evgeny SHWARTZ]

Skotnyi dvor [The Farmyard]

Moskva, Molodaia gvardiia, 1931.

Celebrated Soviet children book with beautiful full-page images. First edition, in excellent condition.

Image for PUSHKIN & STALIN. Lukomore. Samizdat, USSR, 1970s #2

Out of stock

The greatest Russian poet and the greatest Soviet dictator...

[PUSHKIN and STALIN]

Lukomore

[Soviet Union, mid-20th century].

A small leaf containing a funny parody which could send you to a GULAG camp.

Image for BARSKIY Y. Anti-Alcohol pamphlet in Ukrainian. Kharkiv, 1930. #2

Out of stock

Half their wages into alcohol

BARSKIY, Y. A

Chi dodae sili alkogol? [Does Alcohol Give Strength?]

Kharkiv, Naukova Dumka, 1930.

Great example of Soviet health propaganda, trying to make Ukrainians more sober. Very rare.

Image for NABOKOV, Vl. Poetry in samizdat, very rare. 1970s. #3

Out of stock

Nabokov the Poet – Home-made and illegal in Russia

NABOKOV, Vladimir

Stikhi [Poetry]

[USSR, 1970s].

Some of Nabokov's most scandalous poems, of course banned in Soviet Union and here in an illegal "edition" home-made in Brezhnev's USSR. Very rare.

Image for PASTERNAK, B. Doktor Zhivago. Ann Arbor, 1959. #3

Out of stock

The first edition in Russian after the Nobel Prize award

PASTERNAK, Boris

Doktor Zhivago [Doctor Zhivago]

The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1959 [but December 1958].

First printing of the first "legal" Russian edition of this famous Nobel Prize winner. A lovely copy of Pasternak's masterpiece.

Image for VOLOSHIN, M. Poems in samizdat, inscribed. Ca. 1961. #2

Out of stock

With a poetic inscription and edits by guardian of the poet's legacy

VOLOSHIN, Maksimilian

[Poetry in Samizdat]

[Crimea?, ca. 1961].

Lovely collection of Voloshin's poems, inscribed by his widow to a fellow writer.

Image for PASTERNAK, B. Doktor Zhivago, excerpts. 1958-59 #2

Out of stock

Ideal from smuggling into the USSR

PASTERNAK, Boris

Doktor Zhivago v vyderzhkakh i poiasneniiakh, opublikovannykh v ezhenedelnike Posev №№ 46, 47, 48 i 49 za 1958 g [Doctor Zhivago in Excerpts and Explanations]

Posev, [Frankfurt-am-Main, ca. end of 1958-early 1959].

A scarce, very early pamphlet with important excerpts from Pasternak's celebrated novel - banned in the USSR and published here with help of the CIA.

Image for BORISOV, A. Krainii Sever. First edition, 1931. #7

Out of stock

The first Russian painter of the Arctic

BORISOV, Aleksandr Alekseevich

Krainii sever [The Far North]

IZOGIZ, Moskva-Leningrad, 1931.

Great images due to an artist-explorer discovering the Arctic regions of Russia. Scarce, and this copy inscribed by a leading Soviet explorer.

Image for TSVETAEVA, Lebedinyi Stan, first edition. Munich, 1957. #2

Out of stock

The unpublishable finally published

TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna

Lebedinyi stan [A Swans' Wedge. Poems from 1917-1921]

Einheit, Inh. I. Baschkirzew, Munchen, 1957.

First edition of this important cycle about the Revolution and the Civil War, impossible to publish in the USSR and even abroad for several decades. A very good copy.

Image for TSVETAEVA, M. Versty. Second, expanded edition, Moscow, 1922. #2

Out of stock

With almost 3 times more poems

TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna

Versty [Mileposts]

Tip. Iv. Fedorova for GIZ, Moskva, 1922.

Tsvetaeva's first post-war and post-Revolution collection of poetry, here in its most important edition.

Image for TSVETAEVA, Poslee Rossii, first edition in wrappers, 1928 #1

Out of stock

Her last poems - in original wrappers

TSVETAEVA, Marina

Posle Rossii. 1922-1925 [After Russia. 1922-1925]

Imp. Union for I.E. Povolotsky, Paris, 1928.

The last poetry of Russia's great poetess, banned in the USSR: a fine example of the first edition, in the original wrappers. Includes one of Tsvetaeva's most famous poems.

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