[Signed] Menabde, L. "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" and the Figures of the National Liberation Movement (Vepkhistqaosani da sakartvelos erovnul-ganmatavisuplebeli modzraobis mogvatseni), 1967. In Georgian.

მენაბდე, ლევან. „ვეფხისტყაოსანი“ და საქართველოს ეროვნულ-განმათავისუფლებელი მოძრაობის მოღვაწენი : (მე-19 საუკუნის მე-2 ნახევარი). / [ავტორის ავტოგრაფით]. თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი, რუსთველის კაბინეტი.
თბილისი : თბილისის უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა, 1967.
194 გვ. : ილ. ტილო, 22 სმ. ტირაჟი 1000 ც.
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[Signed] Menabde, Levan. "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" and the Figures of the Georgian National Liberation Movement: (2nd Half of the 19th Century). Tbilisi State University, Rustaveli's Cabinet.
Tbilisi : Tbilisi University Press, 1967.
194 pp. : ill. Hardcover, 22 cm. Print run: 1,000 copies. In Georgian.

This specialized scholarly work by Levan Menabde, published in 1967 by Tbilisi State University, explores the profound symbolic and political role of Shota Rustaveli’s medieval epic, "The Knight in the Panther's Skin," during the 19th-century Georgian national awakening. This particular copy is a significant association copy, featuring an original autograph by the author.
Menabde examines how the figures of the Georgian National Liberation Movement—including iconic leaders like Ilia Chavchavadze, Akaki Tsereteli, and the "Tergdaleulebi" generation—reclaimed Rustaveli’s poem as a secular "Holy Scripture" for the Georgian nation. During the second half of the 19th century, when Georgia was under the Russian Empire, the poem was transformed from a literary masterpiece into a political manifesto for national identity, humanism, and independence.
The book was prepared under the auspices of the Rustaveli Cabinet at TSU, the premier center for Rustavelology. Menabde meticulously traces the history of 19th-century interpretations, public readings, and the famous 1888 "Vepkhistqaosani" commission. He highlights how the poem’s values of friendship, loyalty, and resistance to tyranny provided the ideological foundation for the modern Georgian struggle for self-determination.
With a limited print run of only 1,000 copies, this academic study is a rare find for researchers of Caucasian history, Rustavelology, and 19th-century nationalism. The presence of the author’s signature adds exceptional provenance, making it a prized item for collectors of Georgian literary history and bibliophiles specializing in university press editions from the 1960s.