Item #140944827 Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov). Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)
Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)

Brat'ya Karamazovy (The Brothers Karamazov)

St. Petersburg, Russia: Pateleevyi Brothers, 1881 [but December 1880].

First edition in book form. Two volumes, rare with the half-titles present. 509; 699 pp. Text in the original Russian. Near-contemporary quarter calf, pebble-grain black cloth sides, spines with gilt lettering in Cyrillic, initials to foot of spines. Very Good, a little rubbing to extremities; joints and inner hinges repaired at some point; old faint dampstains to first and last few pages; contents foxed, a little wavy, and a bit musty. Corner of Vol. I p. 289 torn off with loss to a few characters, laid in. Vol. II with former owner's inscriptions in cursive Cyrillic, reproducing some printed lines of half-titles and title page, contemporary inscription giving Dostoevsky's vital dates, first name, and patronymic, to title page, partially trimmed by binder's knife. A solid, complete set.

A true masterpiece of world literature. This was the author's swan song; he died the same year it was published. Published in serial form in The Russian Messenger from 1879-80, and hugely popular throughout Russian society, The Brothers Karamozov stands as Dostoyevsky's largest and arguably greatest novel. This first edition quickly sold out. "Those who go to the novels of Dostoevsky in search of solutions to life's problems will be quickly disappointed, Dostoevsky writes rather for those who wish to know what things are worth thinking about. This is possibly the reason his books possess such vital energy" (Kjetssa, 336). Writing The Brothers Karamazov was for Dostoyevsky a profound and personal spiritual journey: "When I have written this last novel, I shall be ready to die, for I shall have uttered therein my whole heart's burden." Kilgour 286. Item #140944827

Price: $50,000.00