Our Notes & References
First publication in Russian of Bulgakov’s suppressed satirical masterpiece, printed as the whole issue of Student magazine by Romanian exile Alex Flegon.
Unpublishable in the Soviet Union until 1987, the text was circulated only in clandestine samizdat editions, until 1968 when the Russian text was published in two magazines, here, and by the Frankfurt journal Grani. Flegon always maintained that his London printing preceded the Frankfurt, though no priority has been definitively established. This year also saw the publication of Michael Glenny’s English translation, which constitutes the novel’s first appearance in book form. The first book from appearance of the Russian text was by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1969.
Provenance
Robert Eden Martin (b. 1940; American lawyer and noted collector of Russian, British and American literature works).
Item number
1350