ID: 2644
Kolgosp Tvarin. Kazka. [Animal Farm. A Fairy Story.]
ORWELL, George
Category: First Edition
Place/Publisher/Date:
Munich Prometei [Prometheus], 1947.
Description:
First Ukrainian edition; 8vo; original illustrated wrappers. Translated by Ivan Chernyatinski pseudonym of Igor Shevchenko. Foreword specially written by Orwell for this edition. Ihor Shevchenko, was living in exile in Munich with his wife and to support his family, Shevchenko made pocket-sized dictionaries of a thousand Ukrainian and English words and distributed them around Displaced Persons' (DP) camps in and around Munich. In April 1946, Shevchenko wrote to Orwell, requesting authorisation to publish his Ukrainian translation. He described to Orwell how he had translated the book out loud to a transfixed audience of Ukrainian DPs and they had always been puzzled how the West could be so naïve about the Soviet Union and wondered if anyone "knew the truth." He concluded: "Your book has solved that problem […] Refugees reacted to the underlying values of the book, to the tale 'types,' to the underlying convictions of the author and so on." While Animal Farm had been a message of hope to the Ukrainian DPs, Shevchenko's letter was a message of hope to Orwell, who enthusiastically agreed to a Ukrainian translation. When it came time to publish his translation, Shevchenko experienced a slight complication. The Ukrainian publishing company in Munich "Prometej" was adamant that the book should have a preface. Shevchenko passed this request to Orwell, writing that the refugees were "often poor people with strained nerves" and "extremely self-conscious and sensitive, especially as far as the contacts with the West or Westerners are concerned." Orwell's preface became the only published introduction to Animal Farm, and the only known personal account of how he developed the book that would be considered his masterpiece. Of the estimated 5,000 copies printed, only around 2,000 survived; the rest were confiscated and destroyed as propaganda by U.S. and Soviet authorities. A very good copy of a fragile paperback, with a light general tone to the paper and wrappers, head of spine a little bumped, end pages slightly pulled at string binding, stamp at bottom of half-title page for Ukrainian Book Store Edmonton, Canada.
Price £1500.00
