A Journey to Some Remote Countries of Thought and Feeling by Jonathan Swift...

Levidov, M. [A Journey to Some Remote Countries of Thought and Feeling by Jonathan Swift, First an Explorer, Then a Warrior in Several Battles]. Puteshestvie v Nekotorye Otdalennye Strany Mysli i Chuvstva Dzhonatana Svifta, Snachala Issledovatelia, a Potom Voina v Neskolkikh Srazheniiakh. 

Book design by I. Nikolaevtsev.

Moskva, Sovetskii pisatel', 1939.
12mo, 402 pp., 20 ill.

In original publisher’s cloth.
Near very good condition.

One of 10 000 copies printed.

Rare first edition of the best Russian biography of Jonathan Swift, illustrated throughout.

Mikhail Levidov (Levit, 1891-1942) was a writer and author of screenplays. He started with LEF (the Left Front of the Arts) but later worked as a journalist and functionary. Known for his sharp wit, he was nicknamed the 'Soviet Bernard Shaw'. Following reports by Iakov Elsberg and Isaak Babel, he was arrested. According to rumors, his conviction read, '...for espionage in favor of Great Britain, which is incontestably proved by his visit to Swift's tomb in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin'. Levidov died in prison, though other sources claim he was shot.