"THE MOLIERE OF RUSSIA": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF GOGOL'S THE GAMBLERS

GOGOL, Nikolay. The Gamblers and Marriage. New York: Macaulay, (1927). Octavo, original half parchment, original dust jacket. $800.

First edition in English, translated from the original Russian, of Gogol's satirical drama "The Gamblers." Issued with Berkman's translation of "Marriage."

"The Gamblers is a masterpiece of dramatic suspense, and has been hailed in Europe as a model for plot development… Gogol was the natural predecessor of Dostoyevski… But Gogol's medium of expression was laughter, biting satire, whereas Dostoyevski's weapon was self-laceration and humble penitence" (Issac Don Levine, p. [v-vi]). When Gogol sent The Gamblers from Germany to Nikolai Prokopovich for publication in 1842, he wrote, "I am now sending the play The Gamblers which I forcefully collected. The draft was written so long ago and it was so incomprehensible that it was terrible to work with." Of these two satirical dramas, Marriage was the more successful and has been widely translated and produced over the years. Marriage was written in 1832, first published in Russian in 1842, and first translated into English in 1895. The Gamblers was written in 1840 and first published in Russian in 1842; this is the first translation into English. Bookplate, owner ink signature, annotation to fly-title.

Book with minor spotting along spine, near-fine; scarce dust jacket with two small chips to front panel and some toning to spine and edges, very good.