A. SOŁZENICYN - The GUL-ag archipelago. Parts 1-7 (in Russian). Paris 1973-75 First edition.

SOLŽENICYN A[leksandr] - Archipelag GULag 1918-1956. opyt chudožestvennogo issledovanija. [Čast] 1-7. Paris 1973-1976. YMCA-Press. 16d, pp. 606, [2]; 657, [4]; 581, [4]. Brochure. (in 3 vols.).
Abrasions of spine edges, rubbing of covers, minor folding of corners of covers, staining of borders, yellowing of paper in places, otherwise good condition internally. Illustrations in the text. First edition of the Russian text of Solzhenitsyn's most famous work. The writer worked on the book from 1958 to 1968. It was published in the Soviet Union only in 1989, before that it circulated in illegally published, samizdat copies, printed in a small edition. "The book is a testimony to the criminal activities of the communist system in the USSR. Using his own experience, the author showed the development and spread of the Soviet prison system, the original goal of which was to 'eliminate hostile social classes.' As a result, an entire 'archipelago' of concentration and labor camps was created, named the Gulag Archipelago (Glavnoye Upravleniye Lagierei) after its governing institution. The work bears witness to the gradual stripping of man of his dignity and forcing him into slave labor under lofty slogans" (Wikipedia).