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[FIRST SOVIET EDITION OF TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD] 10 dnei, kotorye potriasli mir [i.e. Ten Days that Shook the World] / prefaces by V. Lenin and N. Krupskaya, translated by V. Yarotskiy

Reed, John

Moscow: Krasnaia Nov’, 1923. Item #981

315, [1], 4 pp. 23,5x15,5 cm. Original illustrated wrappers by Sergei Chekhonin. A few small bits of the spine missing, the front wrapper is restored (the right bottom corner is missing, not affecting the image). Overall a very good copy.

First edition. Extremely rare, especially comparing to the editions of 1924 and 1925.
The iconic book by the American journalist and socialist John Reed (1887-1920) about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, which Reed experienced firsthand. Reed followed many of the prominent Bolshevik leaders closely during his time in Russia. John Reed died shortly after the book was finished, and he is one of the few Americans buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow, a site normally reserved only for the most prominent Soviet leaders.
This edition was prepared after the direct instruction from Lenin, who has praised the book in the preface, mentioning that ‘‘this book I would like to see in million copies printed and translated to all languages, as it gives the truthful account of the events that are important for understanding what is the dictations of dictatorship of the proletariat’’.
With that blessing the book was reprinted dozens of times in USSR and translated to 49 languages worldwide. Lenin has seen the Russian edition before passing away in early 1924.
Nadezhda Krupskaya has written the special preface for the Russian edition and lbert Rhys Williams (1883-1962) has written the biography of John Reed. Williams at the time was living in Moscow.
‘Ten Days that Shook the World’ became an important marker of the early Russian 1920s in USSR and in USA.

Price: $850.00