DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor. The Idiot. A Novel in Four Parts. From the Russian by Constance Garnett [The Novels of Dostoevsky, II]. London: William Heinemann. 1913.
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. [iv], 620; spine slightly toned, extremities a little worn, some wear to lower joint, a few tiny marks to covers, some light spotting to text block and endpapers, tiny worm hole to lower edge of pp. 181-198, very far from printed area; overall a very good, fresh copy; early ownership signature “Carlton Milner” to front free endpaper.
First Garnett edition, second edition in English overall, which introduced Dostoyevsky’s masterpiece to English readerships.
The Idiot was the second volume in Constance Garnett’s (née Black, 1861-1946) landmark twelve-volume translation of Dostoyevsky’s works, published by Heinemann between 1912 and 1920. Her translations brought Dostoyevsky to a broad Anglophone readership and “actually provoked a literary craze” (ODNB).
Originally serialised in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869, The Idiot showcases Dostoyevsky’s refined artistic sensibility and psychological depth, while also offering one of his sharpest critiques of Russia’s troubled attempts to emulate Western Europe. The novel was first published in English in 1887, in a translation by the Russian-born English writer Frederick Whishaw (1854-1934).
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