Search Results: Books:Slavic Literature:Classics from ZH BOOKS

St. Petersburg/Moscow: T-va M. O. Volf' i T-va I. T. Sytina, 1913. Hardcover. Second edition (published a few months after the original first); 6 x 9; vol. I pp. 335, vol. II pp. 343; 1/2 cloth and marbled paper over boards; handwritten paper label to spine; some rubbing to tips of spine and edges of boards; small tipped-in bookplate to first blank page; stamp of "Russisches Archiv in Berlin" to title page; a few spots mainly to margins of first several pages, else clean; overall very good.A scarce copy of what is considered the height of Merezhkovskii's literary career. He was an author, poet, religious critic, co-founder of the Symbolist Movement, and husband of revered poet Zinaida Gippius. Right before returning home from exile in Paris in 1908, Merezhkovskii published his historical drama 'Pavel the First' which was promptly confiscated and banned by the Russian authorities. It would become the first in his "The Kingdom of the Beast" trilogy of which the… Read More

Moskva: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo Detskoi Literatury, 1962. Hardcover. Very Good. First edition in this format; 6" x 8 3/4"; pp. [2], 3-188, [4]; original pictorial boards; slight rubbing to edges and corners; illustrated from paintings by Lermontov himself and engravings by beloved illustrator and artist Dementii Shmarinov ; very good or better. From the library of Milton Van Dyke - a renowned writer, publisher, and a longtime professor of Aeronautics at Stanford University (bearing his signature on front cover verso). The current book - "Hero of Our Time" - is considered to be one of "the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism" best works.

Moskva/Leningrad: Zemlia i Fabrika, 1926. Soft cover. Good. First edition, 1 of 8000 copies; 5 1/2" x 7"; pp. 3-78, index to last page; original pictorial wraps; small chips along edges and corners; deckled page edges; a few minor penciled-in notes throughout; good to very good condition. This collection contains 7 of Babel's childhood tales - 'Istoriia Moei Golubiatni,' 'Pervaia Liubov,' 'Liubka Kozak," 'U Batki Nashego Makhno,' 'Shevelev,' 'Ty Promorgal, Kapitan!' - of which the most famous and influential is "The Story of My Dovecote," (an autobiographical story of his witnessing the horrific pogrom of Russian Jews on October 20, 1905) - thus giving the title of the book. The story first appeared in the magazine 'Krasnaia Nov' in late 1925. It was dedicated to Maxim Gorky who was the author's best friend and mentor. Babel was accused of being a foreign spy and a Trotskyist terrorist in 1939. Consequently, he was… Read More

Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo, 1928. Soft cover. Good. Third edition; 5 1/4" x 7 1/2"; pp. [3], 6-172, [3] publisher's list; original pictorial stiff wraps; head and tail of spine with small loss of paper; a few spots mostly to upper margin of front cover; illegible note affixed to front cover verso; front hinge a bit weak; soiling to first few pages, rest clean; good- condition. Considered Babel's best work, the collection of short stories "Red Cavalry" was based on his own diary which he kept while working as a war correspondent assigned to the Semyon Budyonny's First Cavalry Army during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920. His stories document the atrocities and horror of the war.

Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo Khudozhestvennoi Literatury, 1931. Soft cover. Good. Sixth revised edition; 5" x 7 1/4"; pp. [3], 4-124, [4] including index; original printed boards; wear to edges of spine; small bumps and nicks along the covers; front hinge cracked, text clean; good. Considered Babel's best work, the "Red Cavalry" cycle of stories was based on his own diary from the time he worked as a journalist assigned to the Semyon Budyonny's First Cavalry Army during the Polish-Soviet War of 1920. His stories reflect the tragedy of the war.

Moscow: Progress, 1965. Hardcover. First edition; 5 x 8; pp. [4], 5-255; beige cloth over boards illustrated in brown and black; minor fading and age-toning to spine; very light forward slant to spine; very good to near fine.A beautiful edition of John Steinbeck's classic on his road trip across the United States.

Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia Literatura, 1967. Hardcover. First edition thus; 6 x 8; pp. [4], 5-389, [3]; embossed black cloth over boards; gilt decoration to front cover; pictorial DJ; small rubbed spots to corners; minor foxing to page edges and margins of first few pages only; illustrated in red and black; about near fine- condition. Jacket with few cuts and chips to spine tips and few spots of foxing; very good.A beautiful edition of Johnathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" beautifully illustrated by graphic artist Igor' Prager.

Moskva/Leningrad: Gosudarstvennoe Izdatel'stvo Khudozhestvennaia Literatura, 1934. Hardcover. Good. First edition; 5 1/2" x 7 3/4"; pp. [4], 5-282, [6]; original embossed pictorial boards; discoloration and faint staining along margins and spine; full-page lithograph frontis; good condition. The current edition contains the stories from "Red Cavalry" (describing the author's own experiences as a correspondent on the war front) and "Odessa Tales" (series of short stories where the action takes place in the ghetto of Moldavanka in Odessa and the characters are Jewish gangsters), as well as 3 works - 'Giui de Mopassan,' 'Neft', and 'Ulitsa Dante,' appearing in a book form for the first time.

Moskva/Leningrad (Moscow/St. Petersburg): Krug, 1925. Softcover. First edition in book form, 1 of 7000 copies; 8 x 5 1/4; pp. [4], 7-196, [4]; beige wraps, illustrated and printed in black and red; deckled page edges; unobtrusive, thin, closed cuts to wraps along spine repaired; a few nicks and chips to edges; overall in very good condition.A beautiful edition of two of novelist and playwright Leonid Maksimovich Leonov's (1899 - 1994) early stories, the book included "Zapisi nekotorykh epizodov" (Notes on Certain Episodes), written in late 1922, and "Konets melkogo cheloveka" (The End of a Petty Man), originally published in the journal Pechat i Revoliutsiia in 1924. Leonov was greatly influenced by Dostoevskii, which was evident in his latter story. In 1934, he helped Maxim Gorky found the Union of Soviet Writers.

S.-Peterburg (St. Petersburg) : Tipografiia Tovarishchestva "Obshchestvennaia Polza", 1887. Hardcover. Second edition, expanded with two engraved plates of Pushkin's portrait and a scene of his duel, newly-discovered poems, and 500 letters; 10 1/2 x 7; pp. [8], III- XIV, [2], III-LIX, [3], 3-1627, [1], II-VII, [3]; red cloth over boards, with elaborate gilt and black illustrations; cloth to edges and spine repaired; new ffep; heavy glue residue, period gift inscription, and traces of old tape to engravings' verso; personal stamps of two previous owners to title page; several passages underlined in pencil; text in double columns; illustrated with two engravings and a facsimile of Pushkin's handwriting; good or better condition.An unusual (OCLC lists only two copies in Canada and the UK), early, one-volume issue of Pushkin's works, it contained not only his best-known works, but also never-published-before letters and poems, and a wonderful biographical essay on Pushkin… Read More

St. Petersburg: Trud, 1907. Softcover. First edition, n.d. (ca 1907); 3 1/2 x 5 1/2; pp. 64; illustrated green wraps; a few rubbed spots and a small nick to head of spine, else minor wear; very good or better.The books in the "Khudozhestvennaia Biblioteka" series presented cheaply but accurately translated major works of world literature. The current one, translated by Zinaida L'vovskaia, was the short story 'Mystery of Life" by Nobel Laureate Bjornstjerne Bjornson. He was a Norwegian author and poet and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903.