Lot Description
NABOKOV, Vladimir. Invitation to a Beheading. Translated by Dmitri Nabokov. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1959. 8° (210 x 145mm). Red quarter cloth, spine blocked in gilt, original dust-jacket (dust-jacket front panel detached, some wear). Provenance: Vladimir Nabokov (presentation inscription to:) -- Dmitri Nabokov.
First edition in English. PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO HIS SON WITH A FINE BUTTERFLY DRAWING: 'Dmitri for my favourite translator from Vladimir Nabokov'. The inscription is dated the month the book was printed: 'Sept. 1959 NYC'. With corrections in pencil by Vladimir or Dmitri, and three leaves of notes in Italian in an unidentified hand, possibly Dmitri's. Invitation to a Beheading is the first of Nabokov's own works to be translated in the United States and the first collaborative translation by Vladimir and his 25 year old son. Juliar A16.2.