Winter Festivities

Santa Barbara: Centaur Press, 1963. Softcover. First edition presumed; 5 x 4; pp. [28], recto only; illustrated beige wraps; paper label with title laid-on; faint crease to lower corner; two small smudges to illustration on front wrap (moisture drops [?]); overall in very good condition.A beautiful edition, possibly a first English translation, of Pasternak's poem "Zimnie prazdniki," it was published by a mystery small press in Santa Barbara, operating under the name Centaur Press (but not the New York publishing company under the same name, known for reviving pulp adventure and fantasy works of the early 20th century). Originally published in Russian in 1947 (?), the poem illustrated Boris Pasternak's love for finding reasons to celebrate the little things and the common happenings in life and for commemorating them in his poetry.