R L 32 Saint George Street London W1S 2EA +44 20 7493 0876 [email protected] www.shapero.com From legends of ancient Rus’ to the politically charged texts of the Soviet era, this catalogue spans the broad range of the rich tapestry that is Russian literature. Authors from across the chronological spectrum were faced with censorship and suppression but this did not quell the enthusiasm with which they were received. Despite huge contrasts in style they are united by their celebration of Russian language and their defiant dedication to revealing the truth of human nature. Read, translated and loved by so many across the world these works offer a unique philosophical and at times truly radical approach to writing. 1. AKHMATOVA, ANNA. Стихотворения. Stikhotvorenia. 2. AKHMATOVA, A NN A . Anno Domini MCMXXI. [Poems]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatelstvo khudozhestvennoi St Petersburg, Petropolis, 1921. literatury, 1958. £850 [ref: 99773] [ref: 100668] £350 VERY ATTRACTIVE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF AKHMATOVA’S FOURTH COLLECTION. LIFETIME EDITION OF A COLLECTION OF POEMS WRITTEN BETWEEN 1909 AND 1945 - THE FIRST OF AKHMATOVA’S WORKS TO BE PUBLISHED AFTER Anno domini MCMXXI presents 23 new poems from this fertile THE DEATH OF STALIN BUT STILL HEAVILY CENSORED. era in her creative life, together with the re-issue of Podorozhnik, Akhmatova (1889-1966) was one of the legendary figures of which had initially been published in 1921. Many of the poems modern Russian poetry. Her life was one of great achievement concern Akhmatova’s husbands Gumilev and Shileiko: she felt and great loss. Her first husband, Nikolay Gumilev, was somehow responsible for Gumilev’s death (he was executed executed, her second husband, Nikolay Punin, died in the Gulag in 1921), and she mourned him for years, in spite of the fact and her son Lev was also sent to the labour camps. Being one that their relationship quickly proved untenable subsequent of her country’s great lyric poets, she wrote first hand and to their marriage in 1910. The volume marks the dawn movingly about Stalin’s terror. While fellow poets and artists of Akhmatova’s special poetic strategy of mythologizing her own autobiography, which would later come to fruition adored her, she was spied on by the state and finally expelled , Poem bez geroya. from the Union of Soviet Writers. She survived to become in her summa one of the century’s most eloquent witnesses to the Soviet First edition; 24to (12. 3 x 9.3 cm); 102pp.; original wrappers in blue nightmare and was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in 1965. and black, designed by Dobuzhinsky; ex-libris to inner cover, small 8vo (17 x 11.5 cm); 132 pp., with errata slip bound in at end, original repairs; in a modern blue cloth sleeve and box with white label maroon cloth, gilt ruled and lettering to upper cover; very slightly to spine; a fine copy. Kilgour 5. rubbed at the spine extremities and upper corners. Shapero Rare Books 3 3. AKHMATOVA, ANNA. Из шести книг. Iz shesti knig. 4. AKHMATOVA, ANNA. У самого моря. U samogo moria. [From Six Books.] Leningrad, Sovetskii pisatel’, 1940. [At the very edge of the sea]. St Petersburg, Alkonost, 1921 [ref: 96647] . £600 £950 [ref: 96970] FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED IN 1940 AFTER 18 YEARS OF SUPPRESSED PUBLICATION BY THE STATE. FIRST SEPARATE PRINTING of a poem that first appeared in a 1915 issue of the magazine Apollon. Every summer Akhmatova From Six Books was the first work Akhmatova was allowed to travelled from Tsarskoe Selo with her family to their dacha publish in eighteen years. It comprises six works: Iva [Willow], on the Crimean coast. It was here that the poet gained Anno Domini, Podrozhnik [Plantain], Belaia Staia [White Flock], a reputation for being a ‘wild girl’ as she would walk around Chetki [Rosary] and Vecher [Evening]. She was expelled from barefoot, refuse to wear a sun hat, swim in the sea during the Union of Soviet Writers in 1946 and her next major a storm, dive off boats and burn her skin until it all peeled off. collection, The Flight of Time, did not appear until 1965. In this time between publication dates, Akhmatova was treated as an At the very edge of the sea was written in 1914 at a time enemy of the people, not being imprisoned herself she had to when Akhmatova was influenced by Blok’sItalian Poems which witness all her loved ones being sent to the Gulag, executed had been published in ‘Russkaya Mysyl’. The sentiment was or committing suicide. reciprocated and Blok wrote to her saying that thanks to her ‘he felt he loved poetry again’. The work was a farewell to the First edition; 12mo (11.5 x 14 cm); 327pp., title-page, frontispiece careless pleasures of youth and its romantic daydreams, by the portrait of Akhmatova by Nikolai Tirsa; bound with grey cloth with time it was issued as a book Akhmatova had however grown original upper wrapper panel cover mounted on the front, slight into the deeply tragic poet we now celebrate. wear to spine and corners, otherwise very good. First separate edition; 12mo (16.5 x 12.4 cm); 32, [4] pp. advertisements to rear; publisher’s printed wrappers, covers chipped, mild soiling but still bright, wrappers skilfully reattached to text block. 4 Shapero Rare Books SC ARCE FIRST EDITION FIRST EDITION OF A PROLIFIC SILVER AGE WORK 5. AKHMATOVA, ANNA. Четки. Стихи. Chetki. Stikhi. 6. ANDREEV, LEONID; LANCERAY, EUGENE (ILLUSTRatoR). [Rosary. Poems]. St Petersburg, Giperborei, 1914. Цар Голод. Представление в пяти картинах с прологом. £5,000 [ref: 99386] Tsar Golod. Predstavlenie v piati kartinakh s prologom. [King Hunger. A play in five scenes with a prologue]. St Petersburg, AKHMATOVA’S SECOND COLLECTION OF POEMS - ONE OF HER MOST Shipovnik, 1908. POPULAR WORKS. £750 [ref: 99388] The publication of Chetki [Rosary] in March of 1914 was a great success for Akhmatova and cemented her position Leonid Andreev (1871 -1919) was a playwright, novelist as one of the leading writers of the time. Her poems were and short story writer who was a leading figure of Russian lauded to such an extent, many women started to write Expressionism. His first collection of stories published in 1901 poetry ‘in honour of Akhmatova’. Her aristocratic background quickly sold over a quarter of a million copies and henceforth and striking looks propelled her into the public sphere his career as a writer was established. An active participant and after the tragic events later in her life, the poet would in social and political debate, many of his writings including Tsar Golod reflect upon these years as a joyful time. draw on the revolutionary events of contemporary Russia. After initially supporting the Bolsheviks and the This second collection of poems was so well received February Revolution of 1917 he predicted a catastrophic perhaps in part due to the directness of her language which outcome and died embittered and impoverished in 1919. was characteristic of her Acemist style. Avoiding excessive Andreev’s work was translated into English and published symbolic imagery she appealed to her readership with her in America throughout the 1920s. shrewd and sensitive observations, however, her poetry was not well-received by everyone. The text contributed to her Eugene Lanceray, was a member of Mir Isskustva and nephew ex-communication in 1946 by Stalin’s cultural minister Andrey of Leon Benois and Alexandre Benois. Zhdanov, who famously branded her as ‘half nun, half whore, or rather both nun and whore’. First edition; 8vo (24 x 16.5 cm); 126pp., tri-fold pictorial frontispiece, six full-page pictorial section titles and a tail-piece First edition; 8vo (20.7 x 15 cm); original printed wrappers; stamp by Lanceray, preliminary leaf with device and title-page, without to corner of back cover ‘Mag 38 P.S.K.’; slight wear to spine advertisements, marbled end-papers, some age-toning; bound and edges but otherwise in excellent condition. Kilgour 3. in later half maroon morocco with marbled boards, spine in six parts with raised bands and gilt title; spine sunned and some rubbing; t.e.g. Kilgour 33. Shapero Rare Books 5 FIRST EDITION OF A RARE FUTURIST WORK FIRST EDITION IN EXCELLENT CONDITION WIth ORIGINAL WRAPPERS 7. ASEEV, NIkoLAI; GURO, ELENA; MAYAKOVSKIY, 8. BELIY, ANDREY. Христос Воскрес. Khristos Voskres. VLADIMIR; PASTERNAK, BORIS; PETNIKOV, GRIGORY; [Christ Has Risen]. St Petersburg, Alkonost, 1918. KHLEBNIKOV, VELIMIR. ЛИРЕНЬ. Liren’. [Lilac]. Moscow, £375 [ref: 93612] Liren’, 1920. £800 [ref: 99561] Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, better known by the pen name Andrey Beliy (1880-1934), was a Russian poet; recognised Poetry and essays from prominent Russian writers of the early amongst his contemporaries as a major poet of the Russian 20th Century, brought together in the name of Futurist literary Symbolist Movement, it is as a critic and novelist that he left group, Liren. The wrappers were designed by Maria Sinyakova a legacy. (1890-1984), a Ukrainian artist from Kharkov who was a notable figure in the avant-garde sphere and collaborator of the futurist Christ Has Risen is a collection of narrative poems written in group. She was expelled from the Artists’ Union for ‘bowing the first few months after the Bolshevik’s revolution. It is often to Western art’. It is believed that Velimir Khlebnikov was in seen as a response to The Twelve by the Russian lyrical poet love with Sinyakova and dedicated many poems to her. Alexander Blok, which also places Christian messianic imagery onto the Russian Revolution. Like many his contemporaries, First edition; 8vo (16 x 12 cm); original printed wrappers designed Beliy initially saw the revolution as a hopeful occasion.