Разговор о Данте [Razgovor o Dante].

164 x 119 mm. 86, [2] pages. Title-page printed red and black. One illustration in text. Original editorial wrappers. A very fine copy.

Provenance: Livio Ambrogio collection.

First edition of the essay Razgovor o Dante (A Conversation about Dante) by the Russian poet Osip Emil'evič Mandel'štam (1891-1938), written in Crimea between 1930 and 1933. In the text there are numerous quotations from classical sources, as well as allusions to Russian contemporary history. Owing to his 'counterrevolutionary' opinions in May 1938 he was sentenced to five years in a labor camp. Mandel'štam died in December of the same year, in a transit camp.