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[RUSSIAN PENAL SYSTEM] Ostrov Sakhalin. Iz putevyh zametok [i.e. Sakhalin Island. From the travel notes]

Chekhov, Anton

Item #2341

Moscow: I.N. Kushnerev, 1895. [4], III, 520 p.; 19,5x14 cm. Contemporary quoter-leather binding. Black lettering on the spine. Minor foxing on the title page, the spine has a tear, but it is still strong. Otherwise a very good copy.

The first edition of the famous Chekhov’s travel diaries. The Chekhov was sending his notes to the periodical Russkaya Mysl in 1893-95, but when this book came out Chekhov added another 4 chapters to the end of the book.

In 1890 Chekhov, already a well-known playwright, has visited the island of Sakhalin in Northern Pacific, North of Japan, which was used at the time as a penal colony for convicts and repetitive offenders. For three months Chekhov has interviewed the local settlers and convicts themselves. The detailed account of the life of the people on the island painted a picture of social injustice in the far end of Russian Empire. The book has written in anger and appeals to the government demanding the humane treatment of the people. Some of the harsher examples including floggings, embezzlement of supplies, and forced prostitution of women. Because of the remoteness of the place we can presume that without Chekhov we wouldn’t know the details of life on Sakhalin at the time.

‘Sakhalin Island’ could be placed in the tradition of Russian classical literature about Russian penal system, with ‘House of the Dead’ by Dostoevsky before and ‘Gulag Archipelago’ afterwards.

Price: $2,750.00