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[RUSSIAN TRANSLATIONS OF WORLD CLASSICS] Sluchai. Roman v dvukh chastiakh [i.e. Chance. Novel in Two Parts]

Conrad, J.

Leningrad: Kubuch, 1925. Item #1810

344, [2] pp.+ IV pp. of ads 18x13,5 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Fragments of spine lost, with few tears of covers, otherwise very good and clean internally.

First Russian edition. One of 6000 copies. Rare.
Cover design was created likely by G. Lvov, who is best known for his work in the ‘Iunye Stroiteli’ magazine
The novel was translated from English by Russian writer and theatrical critic Vladimir Ashkinazi (1873-1941) under the pseudonym V. Azov. In other times, he also used pseudonyms Pek, Onegin and others.
Before the Revolution, he published in a huge number of periodicals: "Novosti dnia” [News of the Day], “Russian Vedomosti” [Russian News], “Russkoe slovo” [Russian Word], “Novosti” [News], “Rech” [Language], “Rossiya” [Russia], “Karandash” [Pencil], “Zritel” [Spectator], “Zarnitsy” [Heat Lighting], “Strekoza” [Dragonfly], “Budil’nik” [Alarm Clock], etc. He himself undertook the publication of the journal “Blagoy Mat” [Sound Foul Language], which was banned after the first issue for publishing a letter by a member of Socialist-Revolutionary Party, E. Sazonov. Ashkinazi’s feuilletons were adapted into Polish, Czech, German and English. He also wrote one-act plays and farces that were staged at the Liteyny Theater and at the False Mirror Theatre.
In early 1906 Ashkinazi moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg. After the October Revolution, he continued to live in Petrograd, worked at the publishing house “Vsemirnaia literatura” [World Literature]. He edited more than 40 volumes of works by foreign writers [mostly Americans]. In December 1919 he was arrested as one of the leaders of the House of Writers. It was a professional writers’ organization (1918–1922, Petrograd), established on the initiative and with the support of the Society for Mutual Assistance of Writers and Scientists. According to contemporary writer and co-founder A. Amfiteatrov, “Literary Mutual Aid Organizations have never been strong in Russia, and the October Revolution completely strangled them”.
In 1926 Ashkinazy emigrated to France where collaborated with Paris-based emigre periodicals: “Poslednie novosti” [Latest News], “Satirikon” [Satyricon], “Illiustrirovannaia Rossiya” [Illustrated Russia], “7 dnei” [7 Days], as well as the Riga newspaper “Segodnya”.
At the end, the edition contains a four-page advertisement of editions published at the Kubuch [Commission for Improvement of Daily Life of Students of the Leningrad Executive Committee]. There are books released, in print and under editorship, posters printed and two types of mourning badges in memory of Lenin.

Price: $550.00