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NEKRASOV, Nikolai Alekseevich (1821-1878). Stikhotvoreniia. [Verses.] Moscow: Avgust Semen, 1856.
The first edition of Nekrasov's first major collection of poetry. 'For originality and for energy Nekrasov holds one of the very first places among Russian poets and need not fear a comparison with Derzhavin' (Mirsky). Nekrasov had published youthful poems in 1840, but these did not sell, and the bitterly disappointed poet destroyed all the copies that he could find. It is this 1856 collection that established Nekrasov's reputation as a poet; earlier, he was known mainly for having published Pushkin, Turgenev and Tolstoy in Sovremennik. For this collection of poems, Nekrasov took advantage of a temporary relaxation in censorship to include some challenging poems, like 'Poet i grazhdanin', 'Zabytaia derevnia', and 'Zamolkin, Muza mesti i pechali', and others. Censors eventually caught on, and a new edition of this collection was not permitted until 1861. In this copy, a contemporary reader has neatly written-in a number of lines which had to be omitted from 'Otryvki iz putevykh zapisok grafa Garansago'. RBH and ABPC record only two copies having sold at auction (in 2008 and 1977). Kilgour 760; Smirnov-Sokol'skii, Moia biblioteka, 892.
Octavo (209 x 125mm). With the half-title (occasional light scattered spotting). Contemporary Russian quarter leather and brown cloth sides, spine with raised bands ruled and titled in gilt (small repair at spine foot; light wear; laser copy of S.D. Sheremetev's bookplate mounted on the inside front cover). Provenance: a contemporary reader (some censored lines supplied in manuscript) – G.L. ?Der'iz (small ownership inscription dated 1982).
The first edition of Nekrasov's first major collection of poetry. 'For originality and for energy Nekrasov holds one of the very first places among Russian poets and need not fear a comparison with Derzhavin' (Mirsky). Nekrasov had published youthful poems in 1840, but these did not sell, and the bitterly disappointed poet destroyed all the copies that he could find. It is this 1856 collection that established Nekrasov's reputation as a poet; earlier, he was known mainly for having published Pushkin, Turgenev and Tolstoy in Sovremennik. For this collection of poems, Nekrasov took advantage of a temporary relaxation in censorship to include some challenging poems, like 'Poet i grazhdanin', 'Zabytaia derevnia', and 'Zamolkin, Muza mesti i pechali', and others. Censors eventually caught on, and a new edition of this collection was not permitted until 1861. In this copy, a contemporary reader has neatly written-in a number of lines which had to be omitted from 'Otryvki iz putevykh zapisok grafa Garansago'. RBH and ABPC record only two copies having sold at auction (in 2008 and 1977). Kilgour 760; Smirnov-Sokol'skii, Moia biblioteka, 892.
Octavo (209 x 125mm). With the half-title (occasional light scattered spotting). Contemporary Russian quarter leather and brown cloth sides, spine with raised bands ruled and titled in gilt (small repair at spine foot; light wear; laser copy of S.D. Sheremetev's bookplate mounted on the inside front cover). Provenance: a contemporary reader (some censored lines supplied in manuscript) – G.L. ?Der'iz (small ownership inscription dated 1982).
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