Sergei Yesenin's Poem "Pugachev", 1922

This pamphlet with Sergei Yesenin's poem "Pugachev" was printed in Moscow in 1922. The copy stands out for a handwritten presentation inscription on the cover: it is signed "S. Yesenin" and dated "1922 January".

The beginning of the inscription is hard to read in the photograph. The word "lyubeznoi" ("dear") and the end of the text, "…of the unevenness of this poem", are legible. The catalogue record does not mention the inscription, so only what can be seen in the photograph can be said about it.

"Pugachev" is a dramatic poem written in 1921 about the Don Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, leader of the Peasant War of 1773–1775. Some scholars see it as a response to the anti-Bolshevik peasant uprisings of the poet's own time. Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925) was one of the greatest poets of the Silver Age; from 1918 to 1923 he belonged to the Imaginists. The pamphlet is letterpress-printed on paper.