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[AN UNDERGROUND HANDWRITTEN COPY OF GRIBOEDOV’S WOE FROM WIT] Gore ot uma: Komediya v chetyrekh deystviyakh [i.e. Woe from Wit: A Comedy in Four Acts].

Griboedov, A.

Item #2018

Poltava: 1834. [4], 94 pp. 20,8x16,1 cm. Period maroon full leather; front cover with a blind-stamped title “Souvenir S. S. K. – N. S.” Binding slightly rubbed, damp stains on the title page, occasional ink and pencil markings, otherwise very good.

An extremely scarce, early uncensored handwritten copy of Griboedov’s satirical masterpiece, Gore ot uma [i.e. Woe from Wit], transcribed in Poltava, Ukraine, in 1834. The original play was first published in segmented form within the Russkaya Taliya [i.e. Russian Waist] almanac in 1825. Griboedov actively encouraged the dissemination of handwritten copies, aspiring for the prompt release of the complete, uncensored comedy. Despite his efforts, the full text of Woe from Wit remained unpublished during the author’s lifetime and first emerged as a standalone edition in 1833 with substantial cuts.
During the covert dissemination from the 1820s to the 1850s, different renditions of the uncensored text circulated within clandestine circles. Distinguishing itself from the typical handwritten versions of the masterpiece, our copy meticulously attributes the place, year, and transcriber, identified on the verso of the title page as the Russian pedagogue and writer Stepan Steblin-Kamensky (1814-1886). He apparently transcribed the play during his service in the Poltava Order of Public Charity, later gifting the edition to his friend, famous Ukrainian historian Nikolay Zakhrinsky (1805-1871). The copy notably diverges from the officially published 1833 edition, incorporating eliminated remarks and censored portions. Ex.: [А тот —]. Хрипун, удавленник, фагот. Созвездие манёвров и мазурки! Судьба любви — играть ей в жмурки,. А мне… [And the other one] Is rough and hoarse, a husky man. A constellation of mazurkas and maneuvers. Love is doomed to play the blind man’s bluff. And I... (Act III, Scene 1 – excerpt eliminated from the 1833 official publication). Ex. 2: Предубеждения Москвы к любимцам, к гвардии, к гвардейским, к гвардионцам; Их золоту, шитью дивятся, будто солнцам! А в первой армии когда отстали? в чем? Все так прилажено, и тальи все так узки, и офицеров вам начтем, что даже говорят, иные, по-французски. [The fact that Muscovites are fond] Of our Guards and Guardsmen, our perfect pets, Their gold embroidery, the cut of coats and shirts. Our First Army has never lagged behind; The waists are narrow. The style is fine, Our officers are spick and span, They can speak French...
Some of them can. (Act II, Scene 6 – eliminated from the 1833 official publication). Interestingly, the text also greatly differs from the most famous, earlier handwritten copies of the comedy (the Zhandrovsky (1824) and Bulgarinsky (1828) manuscripts), providing a unique, early rendition of Griboedov’s satirical masterpiece.

Price: $3,900.00