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New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1924.
First edition, first printing of the seminal dystopian novel. xiv, [2], 286 pp. Bound in publisher's black ribbed cloth, ruled and lettered in gilt. Near Fine with very light wear and soiling to cloth, rubbing to spine gilt; binding square and firm. Light offsetting from jacket to endpapers, and faint dampstaining to rear endpapers and last few pages. In a rare Near Fine price-clipped dust jacket with fading to red print on spine panel, light wear, light dampstaining to lower rear flap and fold end, and penciled price to front flap.
A stunning copy of the first edition, scarce in any condition and exceedingly rare with the dust jacket. Zamyatin completed his modernist masterpiece in 1921 but could not publish it in his native Russia. This English-language translation precedes all Russian-language editions, and the novel would not be published in the Soviet Union until 1988. By 1929 Zamyatin, a left-wing revolutionary once exiled by the Tsar, had become a target for the Soviet government. His plays were pulled from production, and with no way to earn a living he begged Stalin to allow him to emigrate. Permission was granted, and one of Russia's greatest writers died in exile in 1937.
Price: $85,000