"This is the child of my heart"
GONCHAROV, Ivan
Obryv
[The Precipice]
Publication: Skt. Peterburg, Tip. Morskogo Ministerstva, 1870.
£2,500
In stock
Our Notes & References
Very good, fresh example of the first book edition of Goncharov’s last major novel, “the child of [his] heart” and representative of “the antinihilist novel” (Terras, p. 341).
Completed in 1869, ‘Obryv’ represented the final part of Goncharov’s trilogy “on the transition from one era of Russian life to another” (Staroselskaia). The trilogy included the previously written ‘Obyknovennaia Istoriia’ and ‘Oblomov’.
Conceiving the work as early as 1849, Goncharov (1812-91) worked on his novel on and off for twenty years, and published three extracts in 1860 and 61 (‘Sophja Nikolaevna Belovodova’ in ”Sovremennik’, 2, 1860; and ‘Grandmother’ and ‘Portrait’ in ‘Otechestvennye Zapiski’, 1-2, 1861). The process was complicated by the conflict with Turgenev, who, according to Goncharov, plagiarised the motifs and images from the nascent ‘Obryv’ in ‘Dvorianskoe gnezdo’ and ‘Nakanune’. The full novel was first serialised in the journal Vestnik Evropy (1869, No. 1-5).
Provenance
Unidentified north-European ownership inscription to titlepages (Alena Sau…); Mikhail Krasnov (European private collector of important Russian literature).
Bibliography
Kilgour 360; Lesman 648; Smirnov-Sok., Biblioteka 270; Staroselskaia N.D., Roman I. A. Goncharova “Obryv”. Moskva, 1990; Terras, pp. 328 and 341.
Item number
2651
Physical Description
Two volume large 12mo, two volumes (21 х 15 cm). Half-title, title, 555 pp.; half-title, title, 667 pp.
Binding
Later burgundy half cloth over light brown marbled boards, spines filleted and lettered in gilt, marbled edges.
Condition
Bindings a bit rubbed at edges, corners lightly bumped, ‘Obryd’ lettered to spines; one leaf at end of vol. 1 bound out of order, small marginal stain at foot of first few leaves in vol. 2 incl. title and half-title but not touching text, a handful instances of foxing, last page of vol. 2 reinforced in gutter, otherwise surprisingly fresh internally.
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