Description
First U.K. edition of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak.
Octavo, 510pp. Red cloth, title in gilt on spine. No additional printings listed on copyright page. Solid text block, previous ownership inscription on front free endpaper, a near fine example. In book club edition jacket, some small closed tears, reinforced with tape repair on verso, light rubbing to spine, a very good example.
Doctor Zhivago tells the story of a doctor and his small family navigating the challenges of the Russian Revolution and World War II. Its publication was not permitted in the USSR. In 1957, the manuscript was smuggled to and published in Milan before spreading to other parts of the world, like the U.K. where this copy was published. It has since permeated into various forms of media (a 1965 film and a 2006 TV mini-series) and high school curriculum. Pasternak won a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958.
