Description
Signed first edition of the first volume of Mikhail Gorbachev’s memoirs, Life and Reforms, inscribed in the year of publication.
Octavo, 596pp. Maroon hardcover, title in gilt on spine. Solid text block, splitting to rear hinge, near fine condition. Text in the original language, Russian. In the publisher’s dust jacket, worn corners, a few short closed tears and creases. Housed in a custom black cloth clamshell, title in gilt on black morocco spine. Inscribed in Cyrillic by Gorbachev on the front free endpaper: “Respected Yakov Samoylovich! Best wishes from the author, M. Gorbachev, 1 XI 95.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) was the final General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991. He implemented significant legal reforms under the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), which aimed at increasing transparency in governmental institutions and introducing market-like reforms in the Soviet economy, respectively. Gorbachev’s tenure saw the signing of several key international treaties, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States in 1987, which had profound legal implications for international arms control agreements.
