AKHMATOVA, Anna [trans. Paul VALET]. Requiem. Paris: Les Editions De Minuit. 1966.
8vo. Original card wrappers with black title lettering to spine, pages untrimmed and partially unopened; pp. [iv], 45, [1]; partially unopened, slight toning to upper edge of front wrapper and spine, minimal bruising to bottom of spine and some very minimal loss to bottom; otherwise near fine.
Numbered 24 out of 112, first French edition.
Requiem was written between a period of 1935 and 1961 and relays the reality of the Soviet people opressed under The Great Purge, otherwise known as The Great Terror. During this time, dictator Joseph Stalin sought to exterminate all dissenting communists, sending more than a million survivors to Gulags, including Anna's husband and son, whilst thousands were executed. Due to its condemnation of the The Great Terror, Akhmatova's requiem was unable to be published and she kept them under close guard until the 1960s, when she was still redrafting. The only way through which she was able to spread her words without persecution was orally, through the effort of word of mouth with friends; who committed the verses to memory in utmost secrecy.
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