O’Flaherty, Liam [Blackmail: Collection of stories]. Shantazh.

Translation by N. Kamionskaya.
Preface by S. Dinamov.
Cover design by N. Alekseev.

Moskva-Leningrad, Gosudarsvennoe izdatel’stvo, 1927.
8vo, 102, [1] pp.

In publisher’s illustrated hardback.
In good condition, lightly rubbing to edges, very faint stains.

First and only Russian edition. One of the first O’Flaherty’s books in Russian (three other novels were translated and issued in 1927). One of 7 000 copies published.

Liam O’Flaherty (1896–1984), a key figure in the Irish literary renaissance and a founding member of the Irish Communist Party, gained immense popularity in the Soviet Union during the interwar period. Four of his books were translated into Russian in 1927, making him the most widely translated contemporary Irish writer in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, it is considered that Russian was the first language into which O’Flaherty's work was translated.
O’Flaherty visited the USSR in the spring of 1931 and wrote about his experiences in I Went to Russia, a book that combines both humorous and poignant observations. Perhaps this is why O’Flaherty’s last Russian book was published in 1931.
This book includes 14 stories ('Civil War', 'Milking Time', 'Poor People', 'The Terrorist', 'The Outcast', 'Blackmail', 'Offerings', 'The Fireman’s Death', 'The Reaping Race', 'A Red Petticoat', 'Stoney Batter', 'Your Honour', 'The Conger Eel', 'The Wounded Cormorant') and was translated by Natalia Kamionskaya (1901–1997), while the cover was designed by graphic artist Nikolay Alekseev (1894–1934), who studied at VKhUTEIN under D. Mitrokhin.

Very rare edition. We couldn’t trace any copy of this edition in the USA or European libraries via OCLC.