Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2020 Issue

Russian Literature from Shapero Rare Books

Russian Literature from Shapero Rare Books.

Shapero Rare Books has published a catalogue of Russian Literature. There are names here that will be recognized even by those not terribly familiar with Russian writers – Tolstoy, Gogol, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, Pushkin, Nabokov, Gorky, Dostoevsky, Chekhov. Other names may not be familiar to most in the West but will be known to those more acquainted with the genre. There are also some books here by well-known Western writers in Russian editions, as well as English or French translations of Russian works. As a note, the majority of books are in Russian, that is, they are written in the cyrillic alphabet, which we cannot duplicate. Here are a few selections among these works of Russian literature.

 

Vladimir Nabokov was a multilingual writer, though not one who would occasionally write in a second language. Rather, for half his life he wrote in one language, and the second half in another. There is a logical explanation. He was a Russian native, but after the revolution, he moved to England, then Germany, then for a short time France, and finally to America to avoid the Nazi invasion. During his years in Russia, and still in Germany, he wrote in Russian. After he moved to the United States, he switched to English, in which he wrote for the remainder of his life. He produced many respected works in both languages, though his most famous one is the English novel Lolita. Item 45 is (translated to English) The Gift. Nabokov wrote it in the 1930s in Berlin, but it was censored from the Russian emigre journal. It was published, in Russian, in New York in 1952. This was the last novel he wrote in Russian and is considered a farewell to the world he left behind. Shapero notes it is “an ode to the greats of Russian literature. Each chapter follows the style of a Russian author, including Pushkin, Gogol, and Saltykov-Schedrin.” Item 45. Priced at £500 (British pounds, or approximately $658 in U.S. dollars).

 

Next is one of the great masterpieces of Russian literature that had the misfortune of being written during the Soviet and Cold War era. The title is Dr. Zhivago, the author Boris Pasternak. It follows the tragic love affair of the title character and Lara Guichard through the period of World War I and the Russian Revolution. It was many years in the writing, finally completed in 1955. Pasternak submitted it for publication in Russia but was turned down by Soviet authorities. It did not portray the Revolution and Soviet government in the properly fawning manner. Pasternak had previously been in tense situations with the state, but had been left alone because of his reputation as a great writer. At the urging of a visiting Italian communist, he turned over a manuscript of Dr. Zhivago for publication in Italy. Item 51 is the first UK edition, published in 1958. The book became an enormous popular and literary success, winning a Nobel Prize for literature. Khrushchev and the Soviet authorities were not amused. They could not readily send such a prestigious writer to the gulag, so instead, they threatened him with deportation. This was almost the same to Pasternak whose whole life and family were in Russia. He was forced to decline the Nobel Prize. The affair put great pressure on Pasternak's health and he died in 1960. In the days of the falling of the Soviet Union, Dr. Zhivago was finally published in Russia, his descendants allowed to accept his Nobel Prize, and the book is now read in Russian schools. Item 51. £1,200 (US $1,554).

 

Following up on the story of Pasternak's difficult last years, item 53 is a samizdat of Pasternak's new poetry written from 1945-1957. A “samizdat” is a hand-prepared writing of material that could not be published in the Soviet Union because of censorship. Creating or reading such banned material put the possessor at great risk. Known as the “Green Notebook,” this could only have existed in a small number of copies. This one was given by Pasternak to Georges Nivat, a French student studying in the Soviet Union who was engaged to Pasternak's adopted daughter, Irina Ivinskaya. After Pasternak's death, Soviet authorities dealt harshly with his family. Nivat was deported two days before the planned wedding and prevented from returning for many years. Irina and her mother were sent off to a labor camp, Irina for three years, and she married a man she met there after their release. Nivat loaned his copy of the Green Book to a cousin of Vladimir Nabokov, who wanted to compose romances based on Pasternak's poetry, but he died before the book could be returned. Nivat thought it had been lost until recently told by Shapero that they had it. You can read the complete history in this catalogue. £27,500 (US $35,762).

 

Next we have a look at Russia through the eyes of a Frenchman. Astolphe Marquis de Custine traveled to Russia for four months during the summer of 1839. He was a monarchist and expected his visit to Nicholas I would confirm his views. Instead, it did just the opposite. He was appalled by the government's behavior. He reports that “the Russian government is an absolute monarchy tempered by assassination.” Custine instead supported a constitutional monarchy. He also predicted that the nation would see a revolt as a result of its behavior. It took a long time for that revolution to come, but when it did, it was on a scale beyond anything the Tsar anticipated, changing the world order for almost a century. The book's title is La Russie en 1839 (Russia in 1839) and was published in 1843. It was enormously popular, going through numerous translations and 18 editions, some counterfeit, between 1843-1855. Offered is a copy of the rare first edition. It was composed as 36 letters sent back home. However, he did not send them for fear they would be seized, carrying them back instead. That was a reasonable fear as his book was banned in Russia until the 20th century. For this work, Custine is frequently called the Tocqueville of Russia. Item 20. £3,250 (US $4,271).

 

We return now to another of the greatest Russian writers, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky also spent years in a Russian prison camp, but this was in tsarist rather than Soviet times. Russia has never been a safe place to express your thoughts, any more than it is again today. Item 24 is Crime and Punishment, the 1886 Vizetelly edition published in London. This is a first edition of the first translation to English of Dostoevsky's novel, preceding the American edition by six months. It is a tale of a poverty stricken young man who kills a pawnbroker for her money, and then proceeds to reap the consequences, not so much the legal ones as the psychological and moral ones from his guilt. £9,000 (US $11,831).

 

Shapero Rare Books may be reached at +44 (0)20 7493 0876 or rarebooks@shapero.com. Their website is www.shapero.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
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    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000
  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Fine Books and Manuscripts
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane] — Isaac D'Israeli. Jane Austen's copy of Curiosities of Literature. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition in boards of the author's debut novel. 70,000 - 100,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Brontë, Charlotte. "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me..." 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Eliot, George. The author's magnum opus. 25,000 - 35,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Whitman, Walt. Manuscript written upon the Death of Lincoln, 1865. 60,000 - 80,000 USD
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, A New Map of Texas, Oregon and California with the Regions Adjoining, Philadelphia, 1846. $3,500 to $5,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: 17th–19th-century case maps of various locations. $1,500 to $2,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Andreas Cellarius, Haemisphaerium Stellatum Boreale Cum Subiecto Haemisphaerio Terrestri, celestial chart, Amsterdam, 1708. $2,500 to $3,500.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: Vincenzo Coronelli, Set of engraved gores for Coronelli’s monumental 42-inch terrestrial globe, Venice, circa 1688–97. $18,000 to $22,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, group of four navigational charts, Antwerp, 1580s. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Thomas Bros, Block Book of Berkeley, Oakland, 1920s. $800 to $1,200.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Nieuhoff & John Ogilby, An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, map of China, plan of Canton, London, 1673. $1,200 to $1,800.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Frederick Sander, Reichenbachia, St. Albans, 1888-1894. $5,000 to $7,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Two early illustrated works on horsemanship and breeding, Nuremberg, early 18th century. $700 to $800.
    Swann
    Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books
    December 7, 2023
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Gould, A Monograph of the Ramphastidae, or Family of Toucans. Supplement to the First Edition, London, 1834; 1855. $40,000 to $60,000.
    Swann, Dec. 7: John Pinkerton, A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in All Parts of the World, London, 1808–14. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Swann, Dec. 7: Oakley Hoopes Bailey, Hackensack, New Jersey, Boston, 1896. $800 to $1,200.

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