Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) - photo 1
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) - photo 2
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) - photo 3
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) - photo 4

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)

Lot 69
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 30 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1249706
Lot 69 | Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
Estimate value
£ 30 000 – 50 000
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
Autograph manuscript signed ('Iv. Turgenev') of his novella История лейтенанта Ергунова (Lieutenant Ergunov's Story), [Baden-Baden, c. February 1867]
In Russian. 77 pages, 216 x 134mm, original pagination, on the rectos only of bifolia (the last leaf a singleton), blue paper, lightly-revised fair copy with occasional cancellations, emendations and additions, each leaf stamped with numbers 'Côte 25e / 289e [- 327e] Pièce' for Turgenev's posthumous inventory. Provenance: Sotheby's, 16 May 1991, lot 145 (unsold: acquired after sale).

The complete fair-copy manuscript for this novella with themes of naivety and sexual tensions. Lieutenant Ergunov is a retired naval office who tells a remarkable story about his youth, when in trying to help a young woman who claims she has been robbed he is drawn into an increasingly complex entanglement which culminates with him being himself robbed and beaten.

'...That evening Kuzma Vasilyevich Ergunov told us his story again. He repeated it punctually once a month, and we listened to it each time with new pleasure, although we knew it almost by heart, with all its details ...'

The composition of Lieutenant Ergunov began in 1866 (it is referred to in a letter of 9/21 April): Turgenev worked on it intermittently alongside the novel Smoke, and recorded that it was completed at Baden-Baden on 2/14 February, with the last 22 pages written in an 11-hour burst of creative energy: on the following day he wrote to Pauline Viardot that he was in the process of making a fair copy which would be 80 pages (likely the present manuscript). Turgenev read the completed story to a group of fellow-writers in Saint Petersburg two weeks later, and after a series of revisions over the following months it was published in the Moscow literary journal Russkiy Vestnik (Russian Messenger) in January 1868 and three months later in a French translation supervised by the author in the Revue des deux mondes. Turgenev, who had himself described the novella to Pauline Viardot as 'ce recit bizarre', was disappointed by critical reaction to the story, which tended to view it as too 'anecdotal' and impersonal.

The present manuscript is one of three known autographs: the others are a 7-page draft for the opening of the novel and a fair copy of 54 pages, both held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (see André Mazon, Manuscrits parisiens d'Ivan Tourguenev (1930), pp. 68 and 71). The revisions to the manuscript range from the cancellation of phrases or lines of text to a substantial marginal addition to chapter XIX (p.54).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
£100

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.
?>