Kobzar´ (Кобзарь) «Кобза́рь» Taras Shevchenko Sjevtjenko / Шевченко. St. Petersburg 1860.
8vo (c. 203x140 mm. binding). (6), 244, (1) pp. With frontispiece lithograph portrait of the author.
Original green binding with gilt details and the title to the upper board. Heavily dampstained to upper board, some staining, worn, lower board with rubbing and spotting, spine with minor damages to upper and lower part, two blank flyleaves glued together. Old library stamp to inside of upper board, inner doublures spotted.
Notes to flyleaf dated August 1879 (in Ukranian), signature on paper mounted to one endpaper. Inner doblures at the end with small stamp and some handwritten numbers. Text dampstained throughout, mostly to inner part, some leaves with small holes to inner margin due to this problem. Last leaf partly loose. Portrait partly soiled and dampstained.
The famous "Kobzar", a collection of poems by Ukrainian national poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, milestone of Ukrainian literature and language. Third enlarged edition, the last edition published during the poet's lifetime. Extremely rare, as the work was confiscated by Russian censorship after Shevchenko's arrest in 1847 and there are only a handful of copies available in libraries worldwide. No copy traceable at auctions and on the antiquarian book market. Not in the collections of Kilgour and Fekula.
First edition was published in 1840.
https://shevchenko.ca/taras-shevchenko/biography/
Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861), the national bard of Ukraine, is a founder of modern Ukrainian literature and language. (Shevshenko Museum, Toronto).
