![AKHMATOVA, Anna (1888-1966). Chetki. Stikhi. [Rosary (or Beads). Poems]. St Petersburg: Giperborei, 1914.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_18466_0087_001(akhmatova_anna_chetki_stikhi_rosary_poems_st_petersburg_giperborei_191120432).jpg?w=1)
![AKHMATOVA, Anna (1888-1966). Chetki. Stikhi. [Rosary (or Beads). Poems]. St Petersburg: Giperborei, 1914.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2019/CKS/2019_CKS_18466_0087_000(akhmatova_anna_chetki_stikhi_rosary_poems_st_petersburg_giperborei_191120411).jpg?w=1)
Details
AKHMATOVA, Anna (1888-1966). Chetki. Stikhi. [Rosary (or Beads). Poems]. St Petersburg: Giperborei, 1914.
Presentation copy, inscribed to the man who would later become Akhmatova’s husband, of the rare first edition of her second collection of poems – one of her most popular books. Many of the poems spring from her various affairs, and from the feeling of unrequited love, a theme not often considered from the female perspective in Russian poetry before Akhmatova. The author gifted this book upon publication to the prominent Assyriologist Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko, accompanying the inscription with the quote “In this life I saw a little, I just sang and waited”. She would marry him four years later, against the advice of several friends, and would in time thus describe her motives: “I thought it would be like a cleansing, like going to a convent”. RBH and ABPC record only two copies having been offered at auction. Kilgour 3.
Octavo (214 x 144mm). Original wrappers printed in black (joints worn and splitting at the ends; some staining and soiling). Provenance: Anna Akhmatova (presentation inscription to:) – Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko (1891-1930, Akhmatova’s second husband, poet and orientalist).
Presentation copy, inscribed to the man who would later become Akhmatova’s husband, of the rare first edition of her second collection of poems – one of her most popular books. Many of the poems spring from her various affairs, and from the feeling of unrequited love, a theme not often considered from the female perspective in Russian poetry before Akhmatova. The author gifted this book upon publication to the prominent Assyriologist Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko, accompanying the inscription with the quote “In this life I saw a little, I just sang and waited”. She would marry him four years later, against the advice of several friends, and would in time thus describe her motives: “I thought it would be like a cleansing, like going to a convent”. RBH and ABPC record only two copies having been offered at auction. Kilgour 3.
Octavo (214 x 144mm). Original wrappers printed in black (joints worn and splitting at the ends; some staining and soiling). Provenance: Anna Akhmatova (presentation inscription to:) – Vladimir Kazimirovich Shileiko (1891-1930, Akhmatova’s second husband, poet and orientalist).
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