Byron, George [Don Juan]. Don Zhuan.

Translation by Georgy Shengeli.

Moskva, Khudozhestvennaya literature, 1946.
8vo, 535, [1] pp.

In owner's hardback.
In good condition, small losses of paper to cover, wear to edges, stains, proofreader's marks, desktop publisher's and printing house's stamps, owner's marks (comparisons with early translations).

Galley proof for the only edition of Don Juan in Georgy Shengeli's translation. One line handwritten by the translator: 'Pust' nasha molitva letit, svetla,' [And whatsoe'er may be his prayer, / Let ours be for his soul]. (Canto XVI, p. 496).

Georgy Shengeli (1894-1956) was a Russian poet, translator, and literary scholar. After 1935, he did not publish any new poetry of his own.
His translation of 'Don Juan' began in 1938 and was completed in 1943. The book was published in the autumn of 1947, receiving high praise from poets Anna Akhmatova and Boris Pasternak.
However, Shengeli's translation faced criticism from Ivan Kashkin, a prominent translator of Anglo-American literature and the pioneer of literary translation in the USSR. Kashkin was likely concerned that Shengeli's translation philosophy would set a precedent for Soviet translation practices. As a result of these challenges, Shengeli decided to resign from the translation section of the Writer's Union.
Shengeli's translation of 'Don Juan' is no longer in publication.

OCLC locates only one copy of 1947 edition in the British Library.