[Collection of poems].
Lotto 202
60 00080 000
[Collection of poems].
Autograph in brown ink with the author’s correction of some lines (ink or pencil). After 1926 - [52] p .; 16 x 9.5 cm.
Notebook in a leather binding of cherry color. Fly-leaves of ornamented paper. Golden edges. Personal stamp-exlibris of Sergei Lifar. Dried owers inside.
Autographs of poems «Night branch», «Raven», «Vision of brother Oda», «Oasis», «Ben Akiba», «Merge with the sea your spirit ...», «Dream», «Rus», «Meeting with the actress «,» The Living Tale «, etc.
For each poem, the author indicates the date, place, and sometimes the circumstances of the writing (for example, for the poem «Earth»: «July 15. The heat, the train», or: «July 5. Day of melancholy./ Evening 9:00.»).The last page lists the periodicals and other publications in which the poems of the collection were published.
As U.Terapiano wrote, «there was no other poet in the Russian diaspora who was just as keenly concerned about being cut off from Rus- sia.» Balmont called emigration «life among strangers». Constant was the longing for Russia: «I want Russia ... empty, empty. There is no spirit in Europe, «he wrote to E. Andreeva in December 1921. The severity of detachment from the homeland was aggravated by a sense of loneliness, alienation from emigrant circles. However, in creative terms this period was marked by an unprecedented owering of his poetic gift, the creation of momentous lyrical works. This is vividly evidenced by the verses in the submitted notebook.
This manuscript has an extremely important historical and literary value. Provenance: Collection of Serge LIFAR (1905-1986).