Mayakovsky, Vladimir

1) "Neobychayneyshee priklyuchenie", a working manuscript, inscribed by the author at the head: "A Most Extraordinary Adventure, Which happened to Me, Vladimir Mayakovsky, at the dacha at Rumyantsev, Mount Akulova, Pushkino station on the Yaroslav Railway" [translation], with deletions and alterations, a different text from the published version;  the main verses of the poem, beginning "V sto sorok solnts zakat pylal" ("One hundred and forty suns in one sunset blazing"), is an early draft, shorter than the final version, diverging in the layout of the lines and a few words, nineteen lines not present in this draft, the final twenty-six lines of the poem written by Mayakovsky's muse Lilya Brik, 6 leaves, large 4to (c.28 x 21.5cm), written one side only, paginated by Brik, c.1920, creasing at folds

2) Manuscript by Lilya Brik of Mayakovsky's poem "Moy maya", 3 pages, 4to,



3) Manuscript by Brik of Mayakovsky's poem "The Third International", 4 leaves, written on one side only, 4to, probably about 1920-1923

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Mayakovsky wrote this well-known poem in c.1920, during the Russian Civil War; he recounts a discussion with the blazing sun over a samovar of tea, where he compares his present miserable lot with that enjoyed by the sun ("You scrounger! You've a cushioned place up in the clouds, and here I sit, not knowing if it's spring or autumn, drawing posters, and that's all").  It was published in 1923, as a separate book titled The Sun with illustrations by Larionov.   Mayakovsky had produced texts for hundreds of agitprop posters in defence of the Russian Revolution. 

This is evidently an early working draft of the text.  The title inscribed by Mayakovsky at the head of the present manuscript is different from the final published version which does not use the superlative ("Neobychaynoe priklyuchenie") and the wording of the address is revised here.   Other early readings in this manuscript include, amongst others, the line "A utrom" instead of "A zavtra" on page 1, and a completely different division of lines throughout, so that lines that are separate here are later combined into single lines.   Lilya Brik (1891-1978) was a married woman with whom Mayakovsky had a six-year long affair, ending in 1923.  She was an enthusiastic muse for his poetry, apparently encouraged by her husband Osip, and continued to promote the poet's work after his suicide in 1930.

These manuscripts were formerly owned by the French writer, translator and socialist Henri Guilbeaux (1884-1938), who had come in to contact with Mayakovsky in Moscow following the revolution.