DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor (1821-1881). Brat’ja Karamazovy. [The Brothers Karamazov]. In Russkij Vestnik. Moscow: Katkov, 1879-1880.
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor (1821-1881). Brat’ja Karamazovy. [The Brothers Karamazov]. In Russkij Vestnik. Moscow: Katkov, 1879-1880.

Details
DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor (1821-1881). Brat’ja Karamazovy. [The Brothers Karamazov]. In Russkij Vestnik. Moscow: Katkov, 1879-1880.

The very first 'Karamazov' in print: the complete serialised instalments of the first publication of Dostoevsky’s masterpiece. It appeared in the prestigious Russkij Vestnik in 16 parts between January 1879 and November 1880, concluding just a few months before the author’s death. Each was to be a whole ‘book’, although books 5, 8, 11 and 12 were split into two parts. The editors of the journal always placed the instalment in the middle of each issue, thus ‘forcing readers to at least notice the other contributions’, on science, music, politics, law and philosophy (Todd). Rare: RBH records no other copies being offered at auction. Not in Smirnov-Sokol’skii, Moia biblioteka. W.M. Todd, ‘The Brothers Karamazov and the Poetics of Serial Publication’, pp.87, 91.

Octavo (192 x 127mm). (P.779 of Book 5 supplied in manuscript, occasional very minor spotting, a couple of leaves dampstained, first quire detached.) 19th-century Russian half calf, marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt (very minor repair, upper hinge detached).
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

Emily Pilling
Emily Pilling

More from The Golden Age of Russian Literature: A Private European Collection

View All
View All