Hemingway, Ernest
For Whom the Bell Tolls. Very rare first Russian translation
For Whom the Bell Tolls. Very rare first Russian translation
Hemingway, Ernest [For Whom the Bell Tolls]. Po Kom Zvonit Kolokol. 2 vol.
Moscow, Izdatel’stvo inostrannoj literatury, 1962.
8vo, vol. 1. 209 pp., vol. 2. 230 pp.
In original wrappers and modern clamshell box.
Rebacked, wear to covers.
First translation of the novel into Russian. Extremely rare. Not in Libman. These books were not intended for distribution in bookstores or libraries.
Ernest Hemingway was in favor with Russian authorities until this novel appeared in 1940. The novel was banned because some prototypes of the characters were executed in Russia, and another reason was the Spanish Communist leader Dolores Ibárruri. She never appreciated this novel and was living in Moscow at that time.
The first translation of the novel into Russian was finalized in 1941, yet it faced a ban. Hemingway sought the assistance of his Russian acquaintance, the poet Konstantin Simonov, to explore the possibility of revising the text or omitting certain elements to facilitate its publication in Russian. Unfortunately, these efforts did not yield success. However, Simonov later revised the translation for the first official Russian edition of the novel, composing the foreword. This translation was eventually published in 1968 as volume 3 of Hemingway's 'Collection of Works', albeit with some content subjected to censorship.
This particular edition represents the unabridged translation, free from any omissions, and were released as part of a specialized series intended for Soviet authorities. Distributed according to a predetermined list, each book in the series was marked with a unique number on its cover, corresponding to the numbers specified in the list. After being read, each copy had to be returned. These books were not accessible to the average Soviet citizen; they could not be found in bookstores or libraries.
We couldn't trace any copy in OCLC or in Russian main libraries.