Orbeliani, Sulkhan-Saba. The Wisdom of Falsehood (Sibrdzne Sitsk'ruisa). Introductory study by Giorgi Leonidze, 1957. In Georgian.

ორბელიანი, სულხან-საბა (1658-1725). სიბრძნე სიცრუისა / წინასიტყვ. გიორგი ლეონიძე.
თბილისი : „საბჭოთა მწერალი", 1957. XLVIII, 179 გვ. ; 21 სმ.
მაგარი ყდა. ტირაჟი 40 000 ც.
მდგომარეობა კარგი: ყდა ნაკაწრებით ზედაპირზე, ოქრო ასოები ცვეთით კუთხეებზე; ბლოკი მტკიცე.
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Orbeliani, Sulkhan-Saba (1658-1725). The Wisdom of Falsehood / introductory study by Giorgi Leonidze.
Tbilisi : "Sabch'ota Mts'erali" Publishing House, 1957. XLVIII, 179 pp. ; 21 cm.
Hardcover. Print run of 40,000 copies.
Condition good: surface scuffing to front board, wear to gilt lettering at corners; spine firm; text block complete.

Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani (1658-1725) stands as one of the most versatile and consequential figures in Georgian literary and intellectual history. A prince of the Orbeliani noble clan, courtier, monk, and diplomat dispatched to Western Europe on behalf of King Vakhtang VI, he compiled the first comprehensive Georgian dictionary (Sit'q'vis Kona) and is best remembered for the Sibrdzne Sitsk'ruisa - a frame-story collection of fables and didactic philosophical tales composed between approximately 1686 and 1695. Drawing on Georgian oral tradition, Eastern literary models (including the Panchatantra-Kalila wa-Dimna tradition), and Christian moral philosophy, the work frames the debates of King Phonez and his courtiers as a sustained inquiry into the nature of wisdom, power, and human nature. It is considered the summit of early modern Georgian prose and a cornerstone of the Georgian literary canon. The 1957 Tbilisi edition was prefaced with a substantial critical introduction (XLVIII pages) by Giorgi Leonidze (1899-1966) - winner of the Stalin Prize, one of the most prominent Georgian poets and literary scholars of the twentieth century, co-founder of the State Literary Museum of Georgia, and from 1958 director of the Institute of Georgian Literature at the Georgian Academy of Sciences.