Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam (1891-1938)
Foreword to On Poetry. 1928
Autograph manuscript signed (with initials, 'O.M.'), the foreword to his collection O Poezii (On Poetry), n.p., 1928.

In Russian. One page, 214 x 136 mm, with cancellations by the author.

The foreword to On Poetry. 'This collection includes a number of notes written at different times in the period from 1910 to 1923 and related to various thoughts. None of the passages aims at literary characterisation; literary themes and examples are only illustrative examples here. Various articles which did not connect with the main theme are excluded'.

The collection of critical essays On poetry is one of three volumes published by Mandelstam in 1928 (together with his surreal novella The Egyptian Stamp and the verse collection Poems). Its articles reflect on the essence of language and the continuity of the Russian poetic tradition, making the striking assertion that ‘in poetry there is always war’.

Mandelstam is considered one of the most important Russian poets of the 20th century, initially establishing himself in the ‘Acmeist’ school, which privileged direct expression of thoughts and feelings over the elusive and metaphysical style of the Symbolists. Although at first supportive of the Bolshevik regime, he proved unwilling or unable to bend his art to state propaganda purposes, and his increasing opposition to the Stalinist government led to his initial arrest and internal exile in 1933, and finally his second arrest and death in a transit camp in December 1938.

Mandelstam’s autograph is of great rarity, not least as a result of the official persecution of his last years: ABPC and RBH record only four short manuscripts and a single autograph letter in more than 30 years.

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