Alexandre Kuprin, The Pit, Yama, Novel, 1st Limited Edition 1922
"Yama (The Pit): A Novel in Three Parts", by Alexandre Kuprin, translated from the original Russian by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. Privately Printed for Subscribers Only, New York, MCMXXII [1922]. Copyright 1922 by A. Koren. First Limited Edition and the First Edition of English translation.
"From this edition, intended for private circulation only, 1225 copies have been printed, after which the type has been distributed.
This Copy is Number "131"
Hard paper boards, beige cloth spine with a paper label [the label is worn: see photo, slightly bumped board corners]; 6.1/2" x 9.1/2"; 406 pages on high quality laid paper; fine pages and binding, very good condition.
Originally written between 1909 and 1915 in three parts, the lives of prostitutes, and evils of prostitution. "Yama / the Pit" refers to a run-down section on the outskirts of Odessa.
The novel's first reviewer though happened to be V.I. Istomin, a member of the Moscow censorial committee. In his report he noted that there were fragments in the novel "which give us reasons to regard it as immoral and indecent... as well as fragments belying the author's intention to treat the problem of prostitution in the most serious manner." The list of indecencies featured all the episodes of officials and officers attending a brothel. On April 25, 1909, the committee's special meeting took place. Eventually, the publication was permitted. Still, when preparing "The Pit" for the inclusion into the Adolf Marks-published "The Collected Works" by A.I. Kuprin (1912, 1915), Kuprin took into consideration the censorial report and removed all the bits in which the officials, officers and cadets' visiting the brothel were mentioned.
After novel's publication, the critic, Alexander Izmaylov argued that never since Tolstoy's "The Kreutzer Sonata" had a Russian novel "touched so daringly upon morbid wounds of life". "Against the demon of lie, lust and evil greed does the Russian writer Kuprin wage his war," the critic concluded.
One of the few critics who assessed the novel's second and third parts highly was writer and critic, Korney Chukovsky. "That is a different kind of Yama, it has little in common with the one we read several years ago [the 1st part]. In the former all the action took place in just one tiny hole. This time [second and third parts] the author takes us through thousand places - from a cafe-chantant to a graveyard, a morgue, a police station, a student dormitory. And this motley canvas knit of myriad of faces is based on one grandiose theme, one powerful feeling. Each character stands out in relief, you can almost touch it and that is why all this affects you so... Karbesh, Sonjka the Rule, Anna Markovna, Emma and Semyon Horizont - all of them are portrayed in such a way that I would recognize each and every one of them in a huge crowd," the critic wrote.
Aleksander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) a Russian writer best known for his novels "The Duel" (1905), and "The Pit," as well as "Moloch" (1896), "Olesya" (1898), "Junior Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "Emerald" (1907), and "The Garnet Bracelet" (1911), the latter made into a 1965 movie.
Note:
Country restrictions may apply - the lesser expansive Priority shipping may not be available to all countries.
US: Priority (c.2-8 days) ------------ $18.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ------- $32.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) -------- $44.50
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"Yama (The Pit): A Novel in Three Parts", by Alexandre Kuprin, translated from the original Russian by Bernard Guilbert Guerney. Privately Printed for Subscribers Only, New York, MCMXXII [1922]. Copyright 1922 by A. Koren. First Limited Edition and the First Edition of English translation.
"From this edition, intended for private circulation only, 1225 copies have been printed, after which the type has been distributed.
This Copy is Number "131"
Hard paper boards, beige cloth spine with a paper label [the label is worn: see photo, slightly bumped board corners]; 6.1/2" x 9.1/2"; 406 pages on high quality laid paper; fine pages and binding, very good condition.
Originally written between 1909 and 1915 in three parts, the lives of prostitutes, and evils of prostitution. "Yama / the Pit" refers to a run-down section on the outskirts of Odessa.
The novel's first reviewer though happened to be V.I. Istomin, a member of the Moscow censorial committee. In his report he noted that there were fragments in the novel "which give us reasons to regard it as immoral and indecent... as well as fragments belying the author's intention to treat the problem of prostitution in the most serious manner." The list of indecencies featured all the episodes of officials and officers attending a brothel. On April 25, 1909, the committee's special meeting took place. Eventually, the publication was permitted. Still, when preparing "The Pit" for the inclusion into the Adolf Marks-published "The Collected Works" by A.I. Kuprin (1912, 1915), Kuprin took into consideration the censorial report and removed all the bits in which the officials, officers and cadets' visiting the brothel were mentioned.
After novel's publication, the critic, Alexander Izmaylov argued that never since Tolstoy's "The Kreutzer Sonata" had a Russian novel "touched so daringly upon morbid wounds of life". "Against the demon of lie, lust and evil greed does the Russian writer Kuprin wage his war," the critic concluded.
One of the few critics who assessed the novel's second and third parts highly was writer and critic, Korney Chukovsky. "That is a different kind of Yama, it has little in common with the one we read several years ago [the 1st part]. In the former all the action took place in just one tiny hole. This time [second and third parts] the author takes us through thousand places - from a cafe-chantant to a graveyard, a morgue, a police station, a student dormitory. And this motley canvas knit of myriad of faces is based on one grandiose theme, one powerful feeling. Each character stands out in relief, you can almost touch it and that is why all this affects you so... Karbesh, Sonjka the Rule, Anna Markovna, Emma and Semyon Horizont - all of them are portrayed in such a way that I would recognize each and every one of them in a huge crowd," the critic wrote.
Aleksander Ivanovich Kuprin (1870-1938) a Russian writer best known for his novels "The Duel" (1905), and "The Pit," as well as "Moloch" (1896), "Olesya" (1898), "Junior Captain Rybnikov" (1906), "Emerald" (1907), and "The Garnet Bracelet" (1911), the latter made into a 1965 movie.
Note:
Country restrictions may apply - the lesser expansive Priority shipping may not be available to all countries.
US: Priority (c.2-8 days) ------------ $18.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ------- $32.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) -------- $44.50
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
