Bookvica

[FIRST RUSSIAN MOBY-DICK, ROCKWELL KENT] Mobi Dik [i.e. Moby-Dick, or the White Whale]

Melville, H.

Item #2115

Moscow: Gos. izdatel’stvo geograficheskoi literatury, 1961. 840 pp.: ill. 25x15,5 cm. In original illustrated cloth with lettering on the spine; colored head, in original illustrated dust jacket. Tiny tears of the dust jacket, few small spots on the fore edge, pen inscription on the blank leaf, otherwise near fine.

First Russian edition. One of 7000 copies.

Design by Andrei Goncharov (1903-1979) included illustrations by Rockwell Kent. Goncharov studied in the Second State Free Art Workshops, then in VKHUTEMAS. Since 1923, he contributed to the book design of publishing houses ‘Academia’, ‘Molodaia gvardiia’, Gosizdat, etc. He joined Deineka and Pimenov in OST art society and participated in its exhibitions. Among institutions where he taught was Moscow Institute of Printing Arts (1948-1979). By the time this book was published, Goncharov had written a couple of books on the craft of graphic artists.
The adaptation of ‘Moby-Dick’ into Russian was undertaken by translator Inna Bernstein (1929-2012). She initiated this case during the highest point of the Cold War, brought it to the publisher and achieved success - the second edition was printed the next year, completely reproducing the first edition. Melville’s masterpiece was reprinted more than 10 times until the dissolution of the USSR.
The introduction was written by critic and literary historian Abel Startsev (1909-2005) who imposed socialist understanding of the novel. “Tens and hundreds of pages are devoted to the detailed classification of whales in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, he [author] was unable to give any classification of the whales and sharks of American capitalism on Wall Street and Broadway, from which, no doubt, he could draw much more significant conclusions on the issue that worried him”.

Worldcat shows the only copies in LoC and Princeton Universities.

Price: $950.00

Status: On Hold