Books

First Garnett edition, first impression, scarce in commerce. It was published in Garnett's popular Novels of Dostoevsky series, which introduced the writer's works to many British readers for the first time. Through her further translations of Chekhov, Tolstoy, and Turgenev, Garnett was for much of the 20th-century anglophone world the gateway into the treasures of Russian literature. Her work remains in print today. Constance Garnett (1861-1946) visited Moscow in 1894 and met Tolstoy, who "praised her current translation [of his The Kingdom of God is Within You] and encouraged her to attempt others" (ODNB). Garnett's translations were also highly acclaimed by such writers as Joseph Conrad and D. H. Lawrence, who, on a visit to her home in Kent, "watched rapt while she filled page after page" (ODNB). The novel was first published in Russian in 1866. The first English translation of 1886 is attributed to Frederick Whishaw. This copy has "The Novels of Dostoevsky" on the spine, as usual for first editions in the series. It is thought that copies bearing the author's full name on the spine represent the first issue binding, though this is yet to be proven. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, blind-stamped floral centrepiece on front cover and publisher's device on rear cover, bottom edge untrimmed. Spine sunned, gilt consequently dulled, small wear to corners, endpapers foxed, contents clean. A very good copy. .

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal 'The Russian Messenger' in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. 'Crime and Punishment' is considered the first great novel of his 'mature' period of writing.