One of the most important Russian novels of the twentieth century: a very good example of the rare first issue of volumes I-II.

The first issue of volumes I-II of the Gulag Archipelago trilogy was published in an edition of around 200 copies. It is distinguishable from later editions by the use of very thin India paper and the error on page 606 (vtroi instead of vtoroi).

The Gulag Archipelago has long been a part of the great canon of Russian literature. It is undoubtedly Solzhenitsyn's masterpiece and the work for which he will be best remembered. Solzhenitsyn had originally intended to publish in 1969 soon after it was completed but he then changed his mind. His hand was eventually forced after the KGB discovered a copy of one of the typescripts in August 1973. A microfilm of The Gulag Archipelago had been sent to the West a few years earlier and after the discovery of the typescript in Moscow, he ordered YMCA Press to go to print in order to forestall any possible machinations by the KGB

First editions (including the first issue of vol I-II), 3 vols; 8vo; original pictorial wrappers, some creasing and fading to spines, extremities a little worn, a very good set.

T. Mathew, A guide to the Russian editions of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's major works.