Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich and Boris Tomashevskii, editor

Gavriiliada: poema [The Gabrieliad]

Saint Petersburg: 1922. Item #1235

21 cm. 112 pages: illustrations. Text in Russian. The physical condition of the book is quite poor—its binding is falling apart, the cover is detached, and the pages are loose and foxed.

This is the first scholarly edition of Pushkin's controversial and censored poem, written in 1821. In it, Pushkin satirizes key religious doctrines such as the Annunciation and the Virgin Birth, a work too provocative to be published during his lifetime. The poem circulated anonymously in manuscript form and was only published for the first time in full in Russia in 1917.

This 1922 edition, limited to 1,000 copies, edited by Boris Tomashevskii, includes critical essays on the poem’s plot, language, and history. This copy is numbered № 989. It is notable for its high-quality production, with wrappers designed by renowned illustrator Vladimir Konashevich and printed by the prestigious Golike and Vilborg company.

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