DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. A Novel in Four Parts and an Epilogue. From the Russian by Constance Garnett [The Novels of Dostoevsky, I]. London: William Heinemann. 1912.
8vo. Original red cloth, blind-stamped roundel design to upper board with publisher device in blind to lower, spine with lettering and ornate border design in gilt (oxidised); pp. xii, 838, [2, colophon leaf]; spine slightly toned, gilding oxidised, extremities a little worn, some wear to lower joint, a few tiny marks to covers, some light spotting to text block and endpapers, short closed tear to upper margin of p. 159; overall a very good, fresh copy; early ownership signature “Carlton Milner” to front free endpaper.
The true first edition in English of Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel, very rare in such good condition.
Dostoyevsky’s last novel, The Brothers Karamazov was originally published in serial form in The Russian Messenger between January 1879 and November 1880, and has since been hailed as the author’s greatest work and one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. The first widely recognised English translation was by Constance Garnett (née Black, 1861-1946), marking the beginning of her ambitious twelve-volume series of Dostoyevsky’s works, published by Heinemann between 1912 and 1920. Commissioned in 1910, the series “actually provoked a literary craze” in the English-speaking world (ODNB).
Garnett’s version is often described as the first adequate English translation of the novel. An earlier attempt by American writer Isabel Florence Hapgood (1850-1928) appeared in 1905 under the title The Karamazoff Brothers: A Drama in Six Pictures, from the Novel by Feodor M. Dostoievsky. However, Hapgood’s version took considerable liberties with the original text and is generally not regarded as the true first English edition.
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