Evgeniy Onegin [Eugene Oneogin].

illustrated edition of Pushkin's masterpiece

Excellent copy, decoratively bound and with fragile original wrappers bound in, of this celebrated novel in verses, illustrated here in a limited edition of 200 copies only (Fekula).

Attractive example of this fine representative of Russian 'artistic literature' ('khudozhestvennaia literatura'), an active branch of Russian publishing in the 19th century. With the canonisation of Pushkin as Russia's national poet in the late 19th century, publishers rushed to meet the popular demand for new editions. This edition of Pushkin's masterpiece is especially remarkable for its larger format, the quality of its production, and the artistry of the illustration, here published for the first time with the text.

The Academician Pavel Sokolov (1826-1905) had realised 48 drawings in 1855-60 for an unrealised project by literary critic Pavel Annenkov: the drawings had not seen light, until the album was rediscovered by the publisher Gote in the possession of Princess Maria Shcherbatova (née Stolypina). Gote first published them in 1892 as photogravure plates without any text, in only 200 copies. The success of that limited edition sparked his republication in 1893 of the poem itself accompanied by K. Fisher's phototypes of the six best plates by Sokolov, plus many vignettes, along with two additional plates by Lavr Beliankin (published here for the first time).

This 1893 volume was lauded by contemporary reviewers as 'the most elegant and luxurious of all those that have appeared thus far' (Russkaia mysl). The great collector and Pushkinist Smirnov-Sokolskii, who ended up buying the original album, considered Sokolov's drawings to be among the best illustrations of Pushkin's poem.

Limited edition, tall 8vo (25 x 17 cm); half-title, title, dedication, 243 pp., table of contents, phototype frontispiece, 8 plates and 16 illustrations in text, all by K. A. Fisher after Pavel Petrovich Sokolov and L. L. Belyankin; modern red morocco, gilt ruled, spine in parts with gilt bands, publisher's gragile wrappers bound in, a fine copy.

Fekula 5077.