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Georges Annenkov (1889 - 1974) |
2138 |
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Aleksandr Blok Двенадцать The Twelve Peterburg: Alkonost, 1918 314 x 248 mm. 62 pages. Edition: 300
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The twelve is Blok’s most famous poem. He finished writing it on 28 January 1918 and it was printed on 3 March 1918 in the Newspaper The Banner of Labour. Together with Blok’s The Scythians it was printed as a brochure without illustrations. Because of its appeal to the public, Alianskii, the publisher of Alkonost, decided to print an illustrated edition. The first set of designs that Annenkov made for The Twelve gained the general approval of the poet, although he had some objections. In a letter to Annenkov he made his remarks and Annenkov took these seriously. The story is about twelve soldiers who march in St. Petersburg in cold winter. One of them murders his girlfriend out of jealousy. It is the murder of the old world and the sadness of the soldier is overcome by the revolution. In the end the twelve soldiers are preceded by Jesus Christ. It is especially this last part that made the poem controversial. Was Christ leading (as believed the Russian emigrants) or was He just walking away from the scene? In the clever drawing that Annenkov provided at the request of Blok, the answer is not provided. The book was published in an edition of 300 hand coloured copies, and one month later in a regular edition of 10,000 copies.
References: Tarasenkov 1966, p. 63 Rozanov 1975, nr. 2273 Berlijn 1983, p. 24-25 Berlin 1987, p.12 SPB, 1989: nr. 5 Stanford 1989: p. 34 Mainz 1993, nr. 70 München 1993, nr. 43 Getty 1997, nr. 82 NYPL 1998, nr. 34 Petergof 2001, nr. 0 Seslavinskii 2009, p. 86-91 Paris 2010, p. 22 |
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2138
Aleksandr Blok Двенадцать The Twelve Peterburg: Alkonost, 1918 340 x 260 mm. 62 pages Edition: 10,000
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Second edition
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155
Alexsandre Blok Les Douze The Twelve Paris: Au Sans Pareil, 1923 192 x 141 mm. 45 pages Edition: unknown.
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Edition with the 1918 illustrations |
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1534
Alexsandre Blok Les Douze The Twelve Paris: Librairie des Cinq Continents, 1967 273 x 220 mm.122 pages. Edition: 2,000.
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Bilingual edition French and Russian Edition with the 1918 illustrations |
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1048
Aleksandr Blok Двенадцать The Twelve Moscow: Kniga, 1980 318 x 245 mm. 62 pages Edition: 3,000
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Reprint of the 1918 edition with a separate book with commentaries in a slipcase. |
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4559
Alexander Blok The Twelve and the Scythians London: The Journeyman Press, 1982 196 x 128 mm. 80 pages Edition: unknown.
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Edition with the 1918 illustrations |
