Geo Milev: Vuspominatelen sbornik [Geo Milev: a commemorative almanach].

[Sofia]: "Narodna kniga", 1936. Octavo (18.5 × 12.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers by Pencho Georgiev; 128 pp. Two photographs on better stock. An uncut and unopened copy; wrappers lightly dust-soiled; tiny nick to upper right corner of front wrapper.

This rare commemorative volume was published by the writer's friends on the eleventh anniversary of his death, in an edition of 2000 copies. Milev (1895-1925) was a Bulgarian literary critic and expressionist poet who played a key role in Bulgarian cultural life in the 1910-20s. He began his career as a translator and popularizer of Western Symbolist and Expressionist poets and philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche. In the early 1920s, his own work became increasingly political and in 1924 he began publishing the leftist journal "Plamak" (Flame). He increasingly provoked scrutiny by the authorities and evidently was killed during an interrogation following the bombing of a Sofia cathedral by communists. Contibutions by Liudmil Stoyanov, Asen Zlatarov, Lamar, Georgi Bakalov, numerous poems by Milev as well as unpublished materials, such as his letters. The cover features a woodcut design (after a famous photograph of Milev) by Pencho Georgiev, a leading painter and set designer at the time, though less known for his activity in the sphere of book design. Like Milev, Georgiev combined local Bulgarian folk themes with Western (and Russian) influences such as Expressionism and Secession. This title not in Jacono. KVK, OCLC show five copies, at Indiana, Urbana Champaign, NYPL, Paris BULAC, and University College London.

Book ID: P003236

Price: $275.00