Ivan Bunin (1870-1953) was the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded to him “for the strict artistry with which he has carried on the classical Russian traditions in prose writing”.  A celebrated prose writer and poet in pre-revolutionary Russia, in 1918 he fled to France where he created most of his masterpieces.  Recognised as the émigré master of Russian literature, he was published widely both in Stalin’s USSR and abroad.

The page on display comes from a first edition of Mitina liubov’ (Mitia’s love). Bunin’s dedication reads:  Happy New Year, my dear Nikolai Karlovich and Natal’ia Ivanovna. Iv.Bunin. Paris, 30 December 1925.

The dedicatees were Nikolai Karlovich and Natal’ia Ivanovna Kul’man.  More information about them accompanies the following exhibit.

Mitina liubov’ / Ivan Bunin (1925)