Two volumes, the first edition and the third Russian edition (the first Feltrinelli edition). Both volumes bound in original pale green paper covered boards with black lettering, both with Tettamanti designed dustwrappers. Il Dottor Zivago with scarce yellow wraparound band, torn in two, loosely inserted. Near fine copies in near fine dustwrappers. Slight looseness to both books between half title and title page. The dustwrappers of both books are clean and bright with just a trace of wear to the spine ends.

The first appearance, anywhere, of Doctor Zhivago, with the corresponding issue in Russian.
Dr Zhivago was deemed unfit for publication in Russia. Soviet publisher Novy Mir's formal rejection letter of October 1958 argued "The thing that has disturbed us about your novel is something that neither the editors nor the author can change by cuts or alteration... The spirit of your novel is one of non-acceptance of the socialist revolution."
It was therefore first published in Italian by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in November 1957, Pasternak having granted the Italian publisher the copyright for translation in June 1956.
The history of the book's publication in Russian is more complex. Following the Italian publication, British intelligence acquired a copy of the original Russian manuscript, and having photographed its entirety, supplied the film to the CIA in January 1958. The CIA's Soviet Russia Division chief, John Maury, wrote that "Pasternak's humanistic message—that every person is entitled to a private life and deserves respect as a human being, irrespective of the extent of his political loyalty or contribution to the state—poses a fundamental challenge to the Soviet ethic of sacrifice of the individual to the Communist system."
To this end the CIA set to having the novel printed in Russian. Working with the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, they financed the Dutch publisher Mouton to print 1,000 copies, which were first distributed to Soviet visitors to the World's Fair in Brussels, handed out from the Vatican Pavilion. A contemporary CIA memo notes that "The book's blue linen covers were found littering the fairgrounds. Some who got the novel were ripping off the cover, dividing the pages, and stuffing them in their pockets to make the book easier to hide."
Unaware of CIA involvement, Feltrinelli saw Mouton's publication as a breach of his copyright and planned to sue, though he later settled. A planned US edition in Russian was to be likewise published without acknowledgement of Feltrinelli's copyright. However, after the legal furore surrounding the publication of the Dutch edition, that decision was reversed, and the US edition, published in Michigan, was subsequently published with Feltrinelli's full consent and collaboration. Feltrinelli intended to publish his Russian edition concurrently with the US publication, but due to printing delays his book was not published in Italy until four months after it appeared in the US.
The book earned Pasternak the Nobel Prize for literature. The award was offered in mid-October 1958, but before the end of the month, under intense pressure from the Soviet authorities, Pasternak was forced to reject it. (The Zhivago Affair, Peter Finn and Petra Couvée)

Stock ID: 36243