Nikolai Gogol, Aleksandr Agin

An attractive copy of Agin's celebrated series of illustrations for Gogol's Dead Souls.

• Nikolai Gogol (Russian).
• Illustrated by Aleksandr Agin (Russian).
• Sto chetyre risunika k poeme N. V. Gogolia 'Mertvye Dushi' [One hundred and four illustrations for 'Dead Souls' by N.V.Gogol].
• St Petersburg: D. D. Fedorov, 1892.
• Quarto.
• 104 illustrations in black and white after Agin.
• Text in Russian.
• In the original wrapper, later half red morocco with title in gilt to spine.

Alexander Agin (1817-75) was a Russian graphic artist and illustrator and this series of illustrations for Gogol's Dead Souls is considered his major work. They were first published in 1846 in serial form by Bernadsky with four prints each issue. Only 18 issues rather than the total 25 appeared as a quarrel between the Bernadsky and a gentleman named Goriainov, who owned the rights to the illustrations halted publication.

In 1892, the bookseller D. Fedorov bought from Goryainov's heirs the rights to both the published and unpublished drawings engraved by Bernardsky. In 1892 he published them all under the title One Hundred Drawings for Gogol's Poem, and then, in the same year, a second and third edition appeared. For the third edition he added four more illustrations, one for the announcement of the first edition in 1846 and three drawings from the collection of the bibliophile, I. A. Efremov. The title was therefore changed from one hundred to one hundred and four - making this third edition the most complete.