Veresaev, Vikentii Vikent´evich, Dr. medicus (1867 - 1945) [Smidovich, Vikentii Vikent´evich]	V tupike. Berlin, [Lutze & Vogt,] 1923.	€750

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8 vo, publishers covers. Lower part of spine chipped. Custom made slip - case, German made TCF paper and material. VERY GOOD. FIRST EDITION. Differs from 1924 Moscow and other later reissues and even serial journal publications. The very first book ever smuggled from Soviet Union without approval of authorities or KGB (GPU at the time9 to be published in the West. Both editions, Berlin´s and all later Moscow editions, were banned in Russia until 1990. Reissued in 1990 in 'Biblioteka 'Ogon´ka' ' Series the book was sold in hundreds of thousands. Veresaev was a prominent Russian medical doctor and writer with strong connections to the highest bolshevik hierarchy. In his brilliant monograph 'Censorship in Soviet Literature' Herman Ermolaev explains in detail a bizarre publishing history of Veresaev´s book. In short, Veresaev was reading excerpts from the novel on 1 January 1923 in Lev Kamenev´s apartment in Kremlin to the audience that included Stalin, Kamenev, Valerian Kuibyshev, Grigorii Sokol´nikov, Feliks Dzerzhinskii and a number of prominent literary and culture figures, censors included. A storm of negative criticism followed and the discussion became very heated.Veresaev was accused of all mortal sins and called names. Despite the fact that Stalin and Dzerzhinsky favored the publication of the novel, although with some excisions, Veresaev did not trust either. He smuggled the manuscript from the USSR to Berlin and published the book at his own expense. Veresaev was reprimanded by the party´s special commission for his doings but not arrested. The book was published in Moscow already in 1924. Some excisions were still kept. The book became a bestseller overnight. A number of new editions followed untill 1927. All editions were still censored and later confiscated. First foreign translation followed the same year.When the book was printed in German in Vienna in 1924, Moscow censored edition followed the same year. The author had a better luck and finished his days in own bed. Grim and impressive scenes of the Cheka atrocities vividly presented by Veresaev in his book, were destroying the image of Soviet chekist created by paid hands of thousands of Soviet poets, writers, literati and film makers for almost seven decades, starting with Mayakovsky and Co. till Yulian Semenov and Co. Ink Murder Corporations. In cataloger´s opinion the special attention paid to this book by secret police officers and agents in the process of searchs of 'vragi naroda' (enemies of people) private libraries during longer period of time, can be explained by special instructions given by GPU and later KGB top brass, which supervise literary activities in Russia till very day (2012). Paradoxically, the book was reprinted in larger runs by two major publishing houses in Moscow in 1990. Both of them with strong connection to the CPSU. One of the publishing houses was part of the newspaper 'Pravda' concern. Four volume collection of Veresaev prose followed the same year, bringing huge profits and quick turnover to Russia´s 'new red merchants' of 1990s. According to some researchers, Communist party´s major publishing concern was turning ruble for times a year on reprints of banned literature through late 1980s and in the 1990s. Veresaev´s 'V tupike' was heading the list of such reissues. The cataloger was not able to compare 1990 'Pravda' publishers edition with 1923 Berlin edition, leaving this work to a prospective customer. See: Ermolaev s 'Censorship in Soviet Literature, 1917-1991 [...] 1996 ( p.16/17) on Veresaev in its entirety (see:Herman Ermolaev 'Censorship in Soviet Literature, 1917-1991 [...] 1996, p.16/17, index.), Kasack, Terras, Slavic and East European Journal, Autumn, 1969, vol. 13, no. 3, p. 380-382T