TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna (1892-1941). Versty. Stikhi. [Mileposts. Poems.] Moscow: Kostry, 1921.
TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna (1892-1941). Versty. Stikhi. [Mileposts. Poems.] Moscow: Kostry, 1921.
TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna (1892-1941). Versty. Stikhi. [Mileposts. Poems.] Moscow: Kostry, 1921.
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TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna (1892-1941). Versty. Stikhi. [Mileposts. Poems.] Moscow: Kostry, 1921.

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TSVETAEVA, Marina Ivanovna (1892-1941). Versty. Stikhi. [Mileposts. Poems.] Moscow: Kostry, 1921.

The first edition of this major work, and among the rarest of Tsvetaeva's publications. Mileposts is Tsvetaeva's third collection of poetry – this one dedicated to Anna Akhmatova – and marks the beginning of her mature style. This work made a very strong impression on Pasternak, who remarked: 'I was immediately tamed by the lyrical power of Tsvetaeva's form, which become her very flesh and blood, which had strong lungs, had a tight, concentrated hold, which did not gasp for breath between lines but encompassed with a break in rhythm whole sequences of stanzas, developing their innate elements' (quoted in Terras). RBH and ABPC record only one copy having been offered at auction (possibly a second edition, which credits the designer of the wrappers); WorldCat locates just one copy outside of Russia, at Harvard's Houghton Library. This copy bears three manuscript corrections in purple ink in a contemporary hand: the cross-stroke is added to the 'A' in 'Anna' on the dedication leaf; 'zhemchugov' is corrected to 'zhernovov' on p. 38; 'kazhdaia' is corrected to 'vsiakaia' on p. 49. Terras, p.487.

Octavo (142 x 103mm, with deckle edges). Original wrappers printed in black and orange (light wear). Provenance: S. Sammonova (title inscription dated Moscow 1923) – Russian bookseller's small stamps on the inside back cover.
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