Dusha Cheloveka Pri Sotsializme ("The Soul Of Man Under Socialism"). Wilde, Oscar.

First Russian edition, first printing, of Wilde's most obviously political essay, and one which spoke to audiences in pre-revolutionary Russia. The Symbolist poet Konstantin Bal'mont described the work as "the refined aesthete speaking with sympathy for the coming Kingdom of Socialism". With his call for the abolition of all authority, including the democratic authority of the people, Wilde advocated the ultimate freedom of the artist. The essay was purportedly far more popular among left-leaning circles in the United States and in Eastern Europe than in England, where it was probably thought to be politically "inconsequential" (Giudicelli). Despite the warmth with which Bal'mont received the Russian edition, the model of Socialism which it developed was far from the ideological orthodoxy of the Soviet Union, and it was not republished after the Revolution of 1917 until the collapse of the USSR. Xavier Giudicelli, "Aesthetics and Politics: The Afterlives of Oscar Wilde's The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891)", e-Rea, vol. 13, no. 2, 2016. Octavo (198 x 135 mm). Original decorative wrappers illustrated and lettered in blue. Erratum slip pasted to final blank. Wrappers rubbed at extremities, spine chipped and torn, contents toned but clean, large open tear to pp. 55/58. A very good copy considering its fragility.