Yesenin, S.A - [Книга была запрещена в СССР; с антисоветским предисловием Г. Иванова] Есенин, С.А. Стихотворения - 1951

The book was banned in the USSR; with an anti-Soviet preface by G. Ivanov

Yesenin, S.A. Poems 1910-1925 / edited and with an introduction by Georgy Ivanov. Paris: Vozrozhdenie Publishing House, [1951]. 1 p. frontispiece, 255 pp. 18.7 × 12 cm. In the publisher's font cover. Minor tears along the spine, abrasions on the front of the cover.

The introduction by G. Ivanov, written in February 1950 in Paris, is one of the most interesting parts of the collection. It was precisely because of it that this book was banned in the USSR. The memories of meetings with Yesenin, tinged with anti-Sovietism, reflections on his work, stories about his personal life and antics - all this could not be imagined in works published in the USSR. After the preface, the poem "Answer to Demyan Bedny" was also published, attributed to S. Yesenin and circulating in numerous copies. The rest of the poems in the collection are arranged in alphabetical order of the opening words.

The Parisian universal publishing house "Vozrozhdenie" was resumed in 1948. As before the Second World War, it was financed by the Armenian oil industrialist A.O. Gukasov. The publishing house was considered moderately right-wing and independent among Russian emigrants. Among other famous books published by "Vozrozhdenie" one can highlight the scientific research of S.P. Melgunov "The Fate of Emperor Nicholas II after the Abdication", S.S. Oldenburg "The Reign of Emperor Nicholas II" (in three volumes), etc. The fiction and journalistic works of B.K. Zaitsev, I.S. Shmelev, I.I. Thorzhevsky, A.M. Rennikov, collections of poetry by S.A. Yesenin. After the death of A.O. Gukasov in 1969, the publishing house and magazine switched to self-financing, but were forced to close due to lack of funds in 1974.