Dostoevsky, Fyodor | Crime and Punishment, an unusually fine copy

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

Crime and Punishment. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, [1886]

8vo. Portrait frontispiece of the author, one-page publisher's advertisement at end, with this work listed first and priced $1.50. Publisher's tan cloth stamped in maroon and gilt; skillful restoration work to head and foot of spine, a truly fine copy. Collector's clamshell box.

First American edition, an unusually fine copy of a scarce book commonly found in worn and frayed condition.

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”

Crime and Punishment is considered Dostoevsky's great psychological masterwork that examines poverty and how far it can push a man.

There is no priority between this and the first English edition (Vizitelly, London) which carries the same translation and is printed from the same setting. Though uncredited in the book, the translation was made by Frederick Whishaw, a Russian-born British novelist, poet and musician. He translated a number of works by Dostoevsky in the 1880s which were published by Henry Vizetelly in London and Crowell in New York. See Maurice Beebe and Christopher Newton, “Dostoevsky in English: A Selected Checklist of Criticism and Translations.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 4, no. 3, 1958, pp. 271–291. Crowell's American edition seems to be so scarce that it eluded their census of editions.

Indeed, it so scarce that WorldCat/OCLC locates only nine copies in institutions (U of Chicago, U of Illinois, Mississippi, Mohawk Valley, NY Public, U of New Mexico, U of Sci & Tec, Virginia, and VMI), and these include imperfect, defective, and rebound copies. Either of the first editions in English are scarce at best, and exponentially so in this condition. Line, Bibliography of Russian Literature in English Translation to 1945.

PROVENANCE:

Joseph (ownership inscription)