Alexandrian Songs

St. Petersburg: Prometei, 1921. Paperback. Very Good. Original light tan wrappers, printed in black; pp. 78 (with ads). Covers lightly soiled; small mend to spine. Controversial at the time of its publication, this book of homoerotic poetry did receive some careful critical acclaim for its "charming erotic sensibility and ambiguous blend of sadness and bittersweet immoralism" (Olga Soboleva, "Harlequinade and Symbolist Art"). Previous owner's initials in monogram on title, dated 1931, and his signature in the gutter, p. 11, "Ivanov." This suggests it's (truncated) from the collection of Viacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov (1866-1949), a or possibly a close relation. Viacheslav Ivanov, Mikhail Kuzmin, Blok, Adrej Belyj, and Emilij Metner were all, for their own different reasons, at odds with the publishers of "Works and Days," and their correspondence about their grievances can be found spilled into the public arena, notably in the pages of the "Apollo." An interesting (possible) association copy. (Inventory #: R5105)