Our Notes & References

A superb example of Lifar’s bibliophilia: a VERY large-paper copy of the first edition of his memoirs, one of 15 ad nominem copies only, this one warmly inscribed to Evgeniia Pavlovna Kaplan in Russian: “With gratitude for kindness – in [?word unclear] days of collaboration with her husband. Yours in friendship, Serge Lifar. Paris 19 VII 1939” (our translation). Evgeniia’s husband was Mikhail Semionovich Kaplan (1894-1979), who opened the bookshop “Dom knigi” in Paris in 1932 and in 1938-1940 published Russian émigré literature – including the present book. Kaplan also represented the publishing house “Petropolis” in Paris, for whom in particular he supervised the publication of Ivan Bunin’s Collected Works in 1934-36.

Born in Kyiv, Serge Lifar (1905-86) was the pupil of Bronislava Nijinska in her ballet studio «School of Movement» in Kiev, before leaving the Soviet Union in 1921. He met Diaghilev, who hired him in 1923, and the 20-year old Lifar became the principal dancer of the ‘Ballets russes’ in 1925. At the death of Diaghilev in 1929, Lifar at the age of 24 was invited to take over the directorship of the Paris Opéra Ballet. Ballet master of the Paris Opera from 1930 to 1944, and again from 1947 to 1958, Lifar was a central, dynamic, and inspiring figure of French ballet dancing.

He was also, like Diaghilev, a devoted bibliophile and avid collector, gathering one of the best libraries of Slavic and Russian books, of which a large part was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1975.

Lifar’s memoirs on his spiritual master consist of two parts: Part 1 is a detailed, professional biography of the great impresario, tracing Diaghilev’s life from his childhood to the last seasons of the Balles Russes in the late 1920s. Part 2 is an autobiography, brimming with drama: Lifar lets it all out, including attempts to strangle his ballerina partner in a fit of anger and his antics with Diaghilev, who called him ‘kitten’. Both parts quote Lifar’s friends and acquaintances, all key figures of the Ballet Russes.

We have never encountered one of the 15 copies ‘ad nominem’, and such an exceptionally large example of this book. These 15 copies were printed on a Van Gelder Zone paper and weren’t for sale. The famous cover is by Mstislav Dobuzhinskii, who had known Diaghilev since 1902 and was, like him, a member of the ‘Mir iskusstva’ art group.

Bibliography

Markov 1445 (illustrated; not numbered, most probably from the usual printrun).

Guzevich D. Dom knigi v Parizhe // Berega: inf.-analiticheskii sbornik o russkom zarubezhie. Skt Peterburg, 2007, Issue 7, pp. 16-32;

Morozov S.N. “Istoriia podgotovki Sobraniia sochinenii I.A.Bunina v izdatelstve «Petropolis» (po materialam perepiski)” // Literaturnyi fakt, vol. 5, 2017, pp. 248-265.