Leskov N. With. Three of the righteous and one Sheramar.

Leskov N. With. Three of the righteous and one Sheramar.
St. Petersburg, Russia. Printing house of A. S. Suvorin, 1880 240 p. Hardcover, three-sided painted cut-off, art bookends; reduced format (13 x 18 cm).

Slightly worn binding; postmark ex-libris on the title; a thin strip of Scotch tape on the back of the title; loss of the lower part of the title one centimeter from the edge; Fox spots; otherwise very good. 

[During Leskov's lifetime, the work was reprinted in his collections "Three righteous men and one Sheramur", St. Petersburg, 1880, pp. 161-240; 2nd edition, St. Petersburg, 1886, pp. 161-240.

In Novoye Vremya, the General title is: "Children Of Cain. Typical of the variety. The first sketch. Sheramar. Episodic fragments of a fatal story", the footnote read: "The generic features of this type are not described by me, but I find that in this description there is much that is not grasped, and the other is too generalized. I want to make a small experiment-to present a few individuals that make up, so to speak, typical varieties of this breed that has not lost interest. - N. L." .

Thus, it is clear from the title and note that Leskov did not yet include "Sheramur" among the righteous at this stage. It is not definitively included in their number in a separate edition of 1880 (1886). The title of the book — "Three of a righteous man and one Saramour" this clearly shows. Only in the edition of 1889 "Saramour" is included in this cycle.

The text of Novoye Vremya for a separate edition has undergone a significant revision. Most of the changes are stylistic edits. But some passages were not included in the text of the newspaper or the publication of 1880 (1886), most likely for censorship reasons.

Thus, in Chapter eight of the newspaper's text, the parent of Sheramur "consoled his hypochondria" with the birth of his son, in the 1880 (1886) edition - "entertained his hypochondria", and in the 1889 edition it was: "Nobleman-entertained his hypochondria."

In the same Chapter, before the quote from Derzhavin in Novoye Vremya, there were no words: "and then political"; they appeared in the 1880 (1886) edition.

In the same Chapter, describing why he did not graduate from the Institute of Technology, Sheramur in the "New time" and in the publication of 1880 (1886) said: "history prevented"; in the 1889 edition, "political history prevented".

Finally, in the same Chapter in Novoye Vremya and in the 1880 (1886) edition, two passages are omitted at the end of the Chapter that characterize the gospel first read by Sheramur — "it should be written in places" , etc.

In Chapter eleven, for censorship reasons, removed in the "New time", but appeared in the edition of 1880 (1886), a place about the Countess's prayer with a reference to Christ.

Chapter thirteen is missing, but appeared in the 1880 (1886) edition of Sheramur's answer that it was still safer to leave Russia in the current situation for him. 

Chapter fifteen does not appear in Novoye Vremya, but there is a word in the 1880 (1886) edition of Sheramur agreeing to return to Russia: "digestion is better there." In the same Chapter, both in the newspaper and in the 1880 (1886) edition, Herzen's name is replaced with "Mr., Mr.".

in Chapter sixteen — " Russian conservative "(so in the 1880 (1886) and 1889 editions); in the newspaper, "ardent Legitimist".

Among other options, it is worth noting that neither Novoye Vremya nor the 1880 (1886) edition contains the name of the Director of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, N. A. Ermakov (Chapter 8). The episode with the "indecent" title - "Popenjoy" (Chapter 17) first appeared in the 1889 edition. In the Novoye Vremya and in the 1880 (1886) edition, it is replaced by the word "Petal..."(Leskov's italics — S. R.) "Yes, sir; that's what it is, and I just claim that she said:" I'm going to shake my petal..."

In Chapter ten, at the end, a footnote is added to the words "you don't understand anything", which is missing from both the 1880 (1886) and 1889 editions. It is important because it confirms the assumption that the story is based on some close-to-reality episode that Leskov (Nemo of the story) may have observed in Paris in 1875. "Since this is not an invention (italics by Leskov — S. R.), we can assume that the Professor who scolded Sheramur and refrained from going to the Countess was almost the late Zaryanko" (famous portrait artist, 1818-1870).

In Chapter twenty-one in Novoye Vremya, there are no attacks against Aksakov and Kokorev: they first appeared in the 1880 (1886) edition.

According to A. N. Leskov, "Sheramur" was prepared in 1879 (A. Leskov, Life of Nikolai Leskov, p. 376).

"Saramour" aroused the criticism is very contradictory evaluation. Along with negative reviews of " Russian wealth "(1880, No. 5, p. 82, N. F. < Baz>in), "Affairs" (1880, No. 5, p. 146, unsigned) and " Domestic notes "(1880, No. 5, p.41, unsigned) in the press there were also very positive reviews about this work, for example, in" Historical Bulletin "(1880, No. 6, p. 383-385, A. p. Milyukov) and" New time " (1880, November 2, No. 1682, p. 4, unsigned).]