Samizdat. Handwritten Manuscript Notebook of Russian Poetry, Early 20th Century. Tiflis. In Russian.

[Самиздат] Тетрадь со стихами разных авторов, переписанных от руки.
Тифлис, начало XX века.
16 с. ; Формат 22,5 × 18 см. Рукопись. Авторы: Алексей Луговой (А. А. Тихонов), Семён Надсон, Яков Полонский, Алексей Апухтин.
***
[Samizdat] Handwritten Manuscript Notebook of Various Authors.
Tiflis, early 20th century.
16 pp. ; 22.5 × 18 cm. Manuscript. In Russian. Authors: Aleksey Lugovoy (A. A. Tikhonov), Semyon Nadson, Yakov Polonsky, Aleksey Apukhtin.

This unique early 20th-century manuscript notebook is a compelling artifact of private literary life in Tiflis (modern-day Tbilisi), highlighting the tastes and cultural sensibilities of the Russian intelligentsia in the Caucasus. The 16-page collection contains handwritten verses by a specific constellation of poets who bridge the gap between late Romanticism and the early Silver Age: the melancholic Semyon Nadson, the master of the "romance" genre Aleksey Apukhtin, the veteran lyricist Yakov Polonsky, and Aleksey Lugovoy (the pseudonym of Aleksey Tikhonov). The text provides a deep dive into the internal logic of personal curation, including the arrangement of poems that emphasized emotional depth, civic duty, and the philosophical intimacy characteristic of the late 19th-century tradition.
Created during a time when Tiflis served as a vibrant crossroads for the Russian Empire's intellectual elite, this disbound notebook reflects a culture of manual transcription where favorite verses were preserved and shared outside of official publishing channels. The selection of these particular authors—particularly Nadson and Apukhtin—suggests a focus on the "poetics of sorrow" and psychological realism that remained highly popular in provincial literary circles. As a primary source for the study of regional reading habits and the dissemination of Russian poetry in Georgia, this manuscript is a rare survivor of the period's ephemeral private archives. It offers a tactile connection to the domestic literary rituals of pre-revolutionary Tiflis, making it a significant piece for researchers of Russian literature and Caucasian social history.