Puteshestvie iz Peterburga v Moskvu [Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow]

Moscow: Detskaia Literatura, 1970. Hardcover. Forth edition; 6 x 8; pp. [2], 3-239, [1]; vloth-backed pictorial boards; some rubbing to corners; mild uniform age-toning to pages; very good or better.Aleksandr Radishchev (1749-1802) was a Russian social critic and author who was said to have brought radicalism to Russian literature. The first edition of his current book, describing the socio-economic conditions in Russia and criticizing serfdom, was published in 1790 and immediately condemned by Catherine the Great. The Queen ordered the entire printing to be confiscated and destroyed and of the 650 copies 17 survived (they were smuggled to England and reprinted in 1840). For daring to write it, the author was sentenced to death. The sentence was later reversed to exile in Siberia after Radishchev begged forgiveness of Catherine the Great and publicly disowning his book. A second edition was not published until 1905.