Aleksandr Pervyi (Two Volumes Bound as One)

St. Petersburg/Moscow: T-va M. O. Volf' i T-va I. T. Sytina, 1913. Hardcover. Second edition (published a few months after the original first); 6 x 9; vol. I pp. 335, vol. II pp. 343; 1/2 cloth and marbled paper over boards; handwritten paper label to spine; some rubbing to tips of spine and edges of boards; small tipped-in bookplate to first blank page; stamp of "Russisches Archiv in Berlin" to title page; a few spots mainly to margins of first several pages, else clean; overall very good.A scarce copy of what is considered the height of Merezhkovskii's literary career. He was an author, poet, religious critic, co-founder of the Symbolist Movement, and husband of revered poet Zinaida Gippius. Right before returning home from exile in Paris in 1908, Merezhkovskii published his historical drama 'Pavel the First' which was promptly confiscated and banned by the Russian authorities. It would become the first in his "The Kingdom of the Beast" trilogy of which the current "Alexander the First" would be the second and "December the 14th" the third and last one. Throughout his life he would be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 9 times, winning none - each time for various reasons including his alleged support of Hitler and his connections to "terrorists" among others.