MANDELSZTAM Osip - Poems. Selection, editing and afterword by Maria Lesniewska. ardziKraków-Wrocław 1984. Wyd. Literackie. 8, s. 578, [1]. Original cloth binding, wrappers.
Very minor rubbing of the edges of the wrapper, otherwise very good condition. Attached is a photocopy of a fragment of O. Mandelstam's biography removed by the censor. Mandelstam. Cover and wrapper designed by Janusz Wysocki. Bilingual edition (parallel Russian and Polish text) of poems by Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938) - Russian poet and prose writer of Jewish origin, a leading representative of the acmeist group; for his anti-revolutionary activities he was twice sentenced to exile to the gulags, where he died and was buried in a mass grave. The book presented here - eagerly awaited by lovers of the printed word standing in a long line in front of the bookstore of the Wydawnictwo Literackie publishing house in Cracow - was brought from the printing house, after which all the still unpacked packages were loaded back onto the truck and taken out of the bookstore. The book had its proper premiere a few months later; it went on sale with an altered wrapper. The text on its wings was shortened: the words "Osip Mandelstam has no grave were removed. But he has an epitaph - and more than one. Among the most beautiful is a poem by the Polish poet: And to the north half naked, half barefoot, / Whispering paragraphs from Inferno, / Mad rides the holy Osip / Into the infinite unmerciful distance. / Still cawing the raven over a drop of blood, / But farther on there is nothing but ice / And crooked Eskimo eyebrows / Persephone of the wolf garden. (Artur Miedzyrzecki)." The price was also changed: instead of the original imprint "Price PLN 470.-" "Price PLN 550.-" appeared. The authorities (represented by the censorship and security service) apparently concluded that the words quoted above would threaten the interests of the state.
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