Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934) - photo 1
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934) - photo 2
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934) - photo 3
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934) - photo 4

Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)

Starting price
£ 3 500
Auction dateClassic
01.12.2021 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 681130
Lot 14 | Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Two typed fragments for the second version of Petersburg. 1922
Two typescript fragments with extensive autograph emendations from the novel Petersburg, n.p., n.d. [c.1922].

In Russian. Irregular fragments, approx. 128 x 182mm and 75 x 175mm, with extensive cancellations and emendations, one numbered '308'. Provenance: I.V. Ivanov-Razumnik (1878-1946); D.E. Maksimov; L.K. Dolgopolov (1928-1995); Vasily Molodyakov (historian, b.1968: provenance given in his Obraz Yaponii v Yevrope i Rossii ... (Moscow, 1996), 151-2).

Fragments from the typescript of Bely’s great Modernist novel. The drafts come from a passage describing the dismal approach from Kolpino to Petersburg, ‘not a single soul, not a single village, the earth itself is a corpse’: ‘Ot Kolpina vietsia doroga :mrachneee mesta net! Podezaete k Peterburgu prosnulisi: i v oknax vagonnix – mertvo: ni edinoy dushi, ni edinoy derevni, sama zemlia – trup. Mnogoutrodnoye, mnogodimnooe Kolpino! Ot Kolpina vietsia doroga- liniya telagrafnih stolbov … (in the ‘Asbuka’ edition, 2000, pp.92-93).

Bely’s second novel, Petersburg was first drafted in just a few weeks in 1912-1913 as a result of a moment of inspiration experienced while climbing the Great Pyramid of Cheops. The novel is set in Saint Petersburg at the onset of the 1905 revolution: its hero is the young Nikolai Apollonovich Ableukhov, and the main device of the intricate and at times surrealist plot is his attempts to escape from a promise to assassinate his own father, a prominent official. The characters include his disdainful beloved, Sofia Petrovna Likhutina, an alcoholic terrorist named Alexander Ivanovich Dudkin and even the Bronze Horseman statue in Saint Petersburg, which appears to Dudkin in a dream. The novel is widely recognized as the pinnacle of prose in Russian symbolism and Modernism in general: Vladimir Nabokov placed it next to Joyce's Ulysses as one of the great masterpieces of 20th-century prose, and in some respects, including Bely’s use of rhythmic prose (based on the anapaest) and the development of the city itself as a character in the novel, it may be said to anticipate Joyce’s novel. The present fragments appear to relate to Bely's heavily-revised 1922 'Berlin' version of the text.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
17.11.2021 – 01.12.2021
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£1 800
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£800
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£800
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£900
Andrey Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrey Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£1 800
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£1 000
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, 1880-1934)
£900
Andrey Bely (1880-1934)
Andrey Bely (1880-1934)
£4 500

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.