138 - GOGOL, Nikolai Vasilievich. *The Nose*. Short Story.

GOGOL, Nikolai Vasilievich. *The Nose*. Short Story. Saint Petersburg, A. F. Marks, 1901. Large 12mo, fawn half-maroquin Bradel binding edged with a gold fillet, smooth spine with title running lengthwise. 51 pp., 17 black-and-white illustrations, including 4 uncut plates with captions. In Russian. Spine darkened, slight scuffing on the head and foot. Noted as the third edition, illustrated with 17 plates by R. Stein (1854–1896). A masterpiece of the absurd, *The Nose* employs the fantastic and the grotesque to expose the vanity of Russian society. By depriving Major Kovalyov of his nose, Gogol illustrates the loss of identity of a man who exists only through his appearance. The story veers into pure satire when the nose goes on the run... Numerous handwritten marginal notes from the early 20th century, in ink and pencil, written in French and Russian. The reader analyzes Gogol’s vocabulary (particularly terms related to witchcraft and labor) and draws a literary parallel with the masters of European romantic fantasy such as Adelbert von Chamisso and Vladimir Odoevsky. In fine condition, in a period binding.