Bookvica

[OSCAR WILDE IN RUSSIAN] Predannyy drug [i.e. The Devoted Friend]

Wilde, O.

Moscow; Leningrad: Detizdat, 1937. Item #1546

32 pp: ill. 19,5x13,7 cm. In original illustrated publisher’s wrappers. Light damp stains on the wrappers and occasionally throughout the copy, loss of small fragments of the wrappers, loss of the pieces of the spine, previous owner’s inscription on the title page (O. Japaridze. 1937. XI). Otherwise good.

The first separate edition of Oscar Wilde’s “Predannyy drug”[i.e. The Devoted Friend] in Russian.

First edition. Scarce. Edited by E. Bobrishyova. Original English version published in 1888. Translated from English by Sokolova. Wrapper design and 6 black and white illustrations throughout by the Soviet Ukrainian artist Anna Davydova (1888-?). At different times, Anna studied in the Kyiv Drawing School under N. Murashko, in the Kyiv Art School under N. Pimonenko and I. Seleznev, in K. Yuona’s studio in Moscow, as well as in Munich, Dresden, and Rome. In 1935, she began working as a professional illustrator of children’s literature and designed Anton Chekhov’s “Van’ka” (1936), Mamin-Sibiryak’s “Yemelya-Okhotnik” [i.e. Emelya, the Hunter] (1937), A. Gaidar’s “Dal’niye strany” [i.e. Distant Countries] (1937), etc.

“Predannyy drug” first appeared in Russia in the collection of Oscar Wilde’s works “Zamechatel’nye rasskazi i skazki izlozhennye Iv. P. Sakharovim” [i.e. Wonderful Stories and Fairy Tales Told for Children by Iv. P. Sakharov] in 1911. Oscar Wilde was largely considered one of the most popular British authors first in the Russian Empire and then in Soviet Russia. His creative works began to appear in Russian translations from the early-1900s. In 1912, Wilde’s complete works were published in Russia - a rare event for an English author, among the other writers of the time, only Rudyard Kipling was honored in the same way.

No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $250.00