Anna Akhmatova, "Beads" [1925]

Title: Beads.

Author: Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) [born Anna Andreyevna Gorienko, Russian poet, one of the leading figures of Acmeism and the Silver Age of Russian poetry].

Translation: Wanda Borudzka, Helena Niemirowska, Józef Kramsztyk.

Publisher: Vilnius–Warsaw, published and printed by Ludwik Chomiński, Bookstore of the Polish Teachers’ Association in Vilnius, “Ignis” Publishing Society.

Year of publication: 1925.

Format: 17 cm.

Volume: 123 pp., [5] pp. of publication list.

Binding: Paperback.

“Paciorki” is the Polish translation of Anna Akhmatova’s collection known in the original as “Czotki” (“Rosary”). The collection was published in St. Petersburg in 1914 and brought the poet nationwide fame in Russia. Published in Vilnius in 1925, this volume is among the earliest Polish book-length presentations of her poetry. The edition is a collaborative effort: the translations were prepared by Wanda Borudzka, Helena Niemirowska, and Józef Kramsztyk. Kramsztyk, a translator of Russian poetry, translated twenty-three poems. The volume was published jointly by the Vilnius Bookstore of the Polish Teachers’ Association and the Warsaw-based “Ignis” Publishing Society. It was published and printed by Ludwik Chomiński at the “LVX” printing house in Vilnius, in a numbered edition. It is a beautiful example of Vilnius’s publishing culture in the 1920s. Vilnius, having recently been incorporated into the reborn Polish state, was at that time an important center for Polish-Russian relations. The volume concludes the publisher’s list of publications.

Anna Akhmatova was born in 1889 near Odessa as Anna Andreyevna Gorienko. She adopted her pen name after her great-grandmother. She was associated with Acmeism, a movement founded by her husband Nikolai Gumilyov, and belonged to the circle of the Poets’ Guild. Her debut collection, *Evening* (1912), and *Chotki* (1914) featured subtle, psychological, and personal poetry characterized by concrete and object-oriented imagery. It is precisely this phase of her work that is presented to Polish readers in this selection. The poet’s later life took a dramatic turn: in 1921, Gumilov was executed, her son was imprisoned, and she herself was unable to publish for years. She dedicated the poem “Requiem” to the memory of the victims of Stalinist terror. She died in 1966 near Moscow.

Provenance: no ownership inscriptions or stamps. On the reverse of the title page is the printer’s mark “LVX” from Vilnius and the piece number 179.

This is an early Vilnius translation of Akhmatova’s poems, a numbered piece in its original publisher’s cover. A must-have for collectors of Vilnius-related materials, researchers of interwar Polish translation studies, and lovers of Russian Silver Age poetry.

The piece is in generally satisfactory-plus condition, with the interior block presenting well. The block is completely sound, tight, and mechanically stable, with the original stitching intact; it is complete and bibliographically integral. The paper has the texture characteristic of Vilnius editions, with natural foxing spots, normal wear and tear on the margins, and acid-induced discoloration from age; it is free of text loss and page tears. The original paper paperback cover is preserved but has come unstuck from the spine and is loose, with heavy soiling and minor tears along the edges.

Catalog ID: 7181-17-A-X