Crane, Stephen
The Red Badge of Courage. First Russian translation.
The Red Badge of Courage. First Russian translation.
Crane, Stephen [The Red Badge of Courage]. Alyi Znak Doblesti.
Translation by A. Krivtsova and E. Lann.
Introductory article by E. Lann.
Preface by J. Conrad [translated from the London edition of 1925].
Cover design by B. Titov.
Moskva, Leningrad, Zemlia i Fabrika, 1930.
8vo, 232 pp., portrait.
In original pictorial wrappers.
Rebacked, wear to wrappers, light dust-staining.
First Russian translation of Crane's most important work and a major American text. Second Crane's book in Russian. One of 5 000 copies published.
In addition to this most important work by Crane, the book also includes the following short stories: 'The Little Regiment', 'Three Miraculous Soldiers', 'A Mystery of Heroism', 'An Indiana Campaign', 'A Grey Sleeve', and 'The Veteran'. It is known that Crane was influenced by Leo Tolstoy’s ‘The Sevastopol Sketches'.
The translation was prepared by poet and writer Eugene Lann (1896-1958) and his wife, Alexandra Krivtsova (1896-1958), best known for their translations of works by Charles Dickens. Krivtsova also translated works by Sinclair Lewis, Joseph Conrad, and Thomas Hardy. The couple's lives ended tragically. When Alexandra discovered she had cancer, they decided to commit suicide together. However, Eugene survived and was accused of murdering his wife. He died soon after, before being arrested.
Boris Titov (1897-1951), the prominent illustrator and book artist, took an unusual approach to Soviet illustrated covers for this book design by incorporating the Latin alphabet.
OCLC locates three copies of this edition: in the University of Illinois Library, the Yale Library and the Design Museum Denmark.