Poor Folk. by DOSTOEVSKY, Fyodor - 1894: Translated from the Russian by Lena Milman with an introduction by George Moore.

London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane,, 1894. I think of you it is as balm to my sore heart. It is a delight to me even to suffer, if it be for your sake First edition in English, first impression, of the first appearance of Dostoevsky in English and the third title in John Lane's Keynote Series, with covers and title page designed by Aubrey Beardsley. The novel was first published in Russian in 1846. The translator Lena Milman (1862-1914) was an architectural historian and literary critic known to Lane through her contributions to The Yellow Book. She was close friends with Thomas Hardy, Henry James, and George Moore, acting as "a sounding board for his aesthetic theories" (Gerber, p. 97). It was she who encouraged him to provide the introduction to this edition. Octavo. Original yellow cloth, lettering and decoration by Beardsley on front cover in black and to spine in black and gilt, untrimmed. Illustrated title page printed in red and black; 14 pp. of publisher's advertisements at end. Publisher's book label and recent bookplate of an American collector on front pastedown. Spine and edges lightly toned, occasional faint soiling to cloth as often. A very good copy. Helmut E. Gerber, George Moore in Transition. Letters to T. Fisher Unwin and Lena Milman, 1894-1910, 1968.