One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

SOLZHENITSYN, Alexander (Solzhenitzyn).

Item Number: 5089

Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1963.

First edition in Russian of the author’s first work. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers. Association copy, inscribed by the author, “To Dear János Rózsás, for his deep affection to Russian literature and to commemorate our friendship. A. Solzhenitsyn. 4. 2. 63.” The recipient János Rózsás was a Hungarian author, known as the “Hungarian-Solzhenitsyn.” As a young soldier was captured by the Red Army in 1944 and sentenced to ten years in the Gulag. During his imprisonment in the early 50’s, at the camp in the town of Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan, he met with Solzhenitsyn at the library of the camp and the two became lifelong friends. Solzhenitsyn’s experiences at Ekibastuz formed the basis for One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom chemise and morocco clamshell box. Contemporary Solzhenitsyn inscriptions are scarce, association copies are rare.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's first book, is an "economical, relentless novel is one of the most forceful artistic indictments of political oppression in the Stalin-era Soviet Union" (The New York Times). The simply told story of a typical, grueling day of the titular character's life in a labor camp in Siberia, is a modern classic of Russian literature and quickly cemented Solzhenitsyn's international reputation upon publication. "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich yields, more than anything else, a beautiful sense of its author as a Chekhovian figure: simple, free of literary affectation, wholly serious" (The New Republic).