First edition in English. Colonial issue. Publisher's original red cloth with titles and decoration in gilt to the spine, blind stamped circular design to the upper and lower board. Lower page edges un-trimmed. An excellent better than very good copy, the binding square and firm with a little rubbing and bumping to the extremities. The contents are entirely complete and without loose or torn pages. The contents, with the previous owner's small Toronto address label to the front endpaper and a very faint marginal stain to page 553, are otherwise remarkably clean and bright throughout. Housed in a bespoke quarter black morocco solander case. A lovely example, which due to the weight of the 850 page text block and relatively thin binding, makes copies in collectable original condition exceptionally scarce in commerce.
The first English translation of this major work of Russian literature, and the first in a series of translations of Dostoevsky's work by Constance Garnett. One of at least three known binding variants [no priority established], this copy with 'The Novels of Dostoevsky' to the upper spine and the imprint of the London publisher Henry Frowde at the bottom [presumably they purchased the colonial edition publishing rights], but retaining the William Heinemann blind-stamp to the lower board and the William Heinemann sheets in entirety.
Stock code: 15918
£8,500
London: William Heinemann in association with Henry Frowde.
1912