Ietim-Gurji (Ietim Dabghishvili, 1875-1940). Selected Poems (Rcheuli leksebi). 1955. In Georgian.

იეთიმ-გურჯი (იეთიმ დაბღიშვილი). რჩეული ლექსები / ანდრო თევზაძის რედაქციითა და წინასიტყვაობით.
თბილისი : „საბჭოთა მწერალი", 1955. 104 გვერდი ; 15 სანტიმეტრი. ტირაჟი 60 000 ცალი.
***
Ietim-Gurji (Ietim Dabghishvili). Selected Poems / edited with an introductory essay by Andro Tevzadze.
Tbilisi : "Sabchota Mtserali" (Soviet Writer) Publishing House, 1955. 104 pp. ; 15 cm.
Printed pictorial wrappers (designed by E. Bakradze, with a photographic portrait of the poet). Print run of 60,000 copies.
Wrappers good: edge wear, chipped and bumped corners, a crease to the rear wrapper. Text block good: leaves age-yellowed; a moisture ring-stain to the front free endpaper and first leaves; pencil scribbles to a rear leaf; text complete and legible, staple-binding firm.

A popular Soviet-era selected edition of Ietim-Gurji (real name Ietim Dabghishvili; Ioseb Grishashvili identified him as Arutin Aghajanov), 1875-1940, celebrated as one of the finest of the last representatives of the old Tbilisi ashugh poetry tradition. Born into a poor tanner's family of Georgian descent (his Islamized ancestors gave rise to the by-name "Gurji", meaning "the Georgian"), he was a self-taught folk bard, maker of the chonguri, chianuri and daira, and a sazandari bandleader who composed and performed in Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani, embodying the polyglot, multi-ethnic urban song culture of old Tiflis. He worked in the Baku oilfields in 1905-1907 and was imprisoned for four years for taking part in workers' demonstrations; his verse circulated chiefly as songs of the city's craftsmen, petty traders and bohemia. His first books appeared in 1909-1914; selected editions were issued by Grishashvili in 1928 and, as here, by Andro Tevzadze in 1955, with the fullest edition following in 1979. The poet is buried in the Didube Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures in Tbilisi. With its red pictorial wrapper bearing his photographic portrait, the volume appeals to collectors of old-Tbilisi culture, the Caucasian ashugh and sazandari song tradition, and twentieth-century Georgian poetry.