Our Notes & References
Pleasant example of this first pocket edition of the Nobel Prize winner, a ‘tamizdat’ organised by the CIA, which was also responsible for the very first (and illegal) edition in Russian just the year before. The convenient pocket format, possible thanks to the thin paper used in this version, was aimed at Soviet citizens and meant to be smuggled into the USSR, especially thanks to the World Youth Festival in Vienna in summer 1959. As such, it encapsulates in a particularly visual way the use of literature as Cold War agent.
The foreword ‘Svecha chelovechechnosti i pravdy’ [‘The Candle of Humanity and Truth’] is attributed to B. Filippov (1905-91), an important man of letters and publisher, especially active in emigration after WWII, first in Germany, then New York and Washington.
The bibliographer P. Mancosu notes “at least four different” variants for this edition, with variation of the paper used, the data printed on the wrappers, and even the number of volumes, as a version is known in one volume. No particular priority is established.
Bibliography
L. Fleiman, Boris Pasternak i Nobelskaia premia, 2013, num. 2729; Mancosu 2.14.1; Mancosu 2015, p.15; I. Tolstoi, Otmytyi roman Pasternaka, 2009, p. 331.
Physical Description
Two volumes 12mo. 294, [4]; [4], 299-634, [2] pp.
Binding
Original publisher’s wrappers, printed in green, lower wrappers with “Imprime en France / Imp. D`Orleans, Paris” (some copies are printed in blue, and some show a price of 390 frs., without priority established).
Condition
A pleasant example with minor discolouration and light occasional spotting.
