Elephant and Marushka (Слоп и Маруська); The Ugly Cat (Некрасивый Кот)
St. Petersburg: Nikodim Press, 2021. Limited edition. Hardcover. Fine. Item #21999 .
OBlong folio, 7 by 19 inches. Thick boards with an illustration of Marushka on the upper board; cloth spine; string ties. Finely printed by Ukrainian-born Dmitry Sayenko on paper he made for this title, and with his illustrations in color taken directly from the blocks. A fine copy, one of 16 numbered copies signed by the illustrator and translator; this is copy No. 3. In the publisher's slipcase
The two poems are from Brodsky's early works. The first, from 1962, tells of a circus elephant who is frightened to death by a mouse and needs his friend, Marushka the cat, to capture the mouse and save him. The second poem, from 1857, tells of a poor old lonely cat, unloved.
Brodsky's original Russian is printed along with a new translation by James J. Owens, made for this edition, and which captures the meter and rhyme of Brodsky's original.
Price: $1,500.00