Master i Margarita [Master and Margarita].

The first edition in book form of Bulgakov's masterpiece, Master and Margarita in the original wrappers.

Bulgakov began writing the novel in 1928 and burned the manuscript in 1930, only to rewrite and revise it for the next ten years. In common with most of Bulgakov's prose it was not published until long after his death in 1940. During his life, Bulgakov was best known for the plays he contributed to Konstantin Stanislavsky's and Nemirovich-Danchenko's Moscow Art Theatre. He published a number of novels and stories through the early and mid 1920s, but by 1927 his career began to suffer from criticism that he was too anti-Soviet. By 1929 his career was ruined: government censorship prevented publication of any of his work and staging of any of his plays, and Stalin personally forbade him to emigrate.

The current publication is the first appearance of the Bulgakov's masterpiece in book form. It was first published in the literary journal Moskva in 1966, albeit heavily censored.

Of particular interest is the introduction to this edition written by Archbishop Ioann San-Frantsisskiy (1902 - 1989), a Bishop of the Orthodox Church in America and a talented writer. It is hard to think of anyone more suitable than a Russian émigré preacher from the noble family of Shakhovskiys to introduce and interpret the Bulgakov's mystical novel. In the foreword he wrote truly prophetic words: 'O knige Bulgakova budut pisat. I o nei ne legko budet pisat' tem, kto stanet pisat' [They will write about Bulgakov'v book. But, for those who write about it, it won't be easy].

First separate edition, 8vo (24 x 15,5 cm); 219pp. including blank, half-title and title, [2]pp., small photographic portrait to p.15, internally fresh; original printed wrappers, some staining to wrappers, lower corner a little creased, spine creased, otherwise a good copy.