Lermontov, Mikhail. Demon. An Eastern Tale (Demon: vostochnaya povest'). Illustrated by Mikhail Vrubel. Academia, 1937. In Russian.

Лермонтов, М. Ю. Демон : восточная повесть / иллюстрации М. А. Врубеля.
Москва ; Ленинград : Academia, 1937. 57 с., 7 л. ил.
Твердый издательский коленкоровый переплет. 25,4x17 см. Тираж 20 300 экз.
В хорошем состоянии.
***
Lermontov, Mikhail. Demon : An Eastern Tale / illustrations by Mikhail Vrubel.
Moscow ; Leningrad : Academia Publishing House, 1937. 57 pp., 7 leaves of plates.
Publisher's hardcover cloth binding with pasted illustration. 25.4x17 cm. Print run of 20,300 copies.
In good condition.

A magnificent 1930s edition of Mikhail Lermontov's celebrated Romantic masterpiece "The Demon," issued by the legendary Soviet publishing house "Academia." Written in the 1830s, Lermontov's narrative poem tells the tragic story of a fallen angel's obsessive love for the mortal Georgian princess Tamara, set against the dramatic landscapes of the Caucasus. This specific 1937 publication is highly esteemed among bibliophiles for reproducing the visionary illustrations of Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910), one of the greatest masters of Russian Symbolism. Vrubel's intense, emotionally charged, and highly stylized monochromatic watercolors perfectly capture the existential despair and dark majesty of the poem. The "Academia" publishing house (1921-1937) was renowned for its exceptional editorial standards and exquisite book design, making any surviving volume from its catalog a coveted collector's item. Bound in the publisher's original cloth featuring a striking pasted reproduction of the Demon's head, this copy offers a superb synthesis of Russia's greatest Romantic poetry and Symbolist art.