Churaevy (Churaeva) Vol. 2-6

New York/Paris/Riga/Harbin: Alatas, 1925. Softcover. Unnumbered copy of a limited first edition of 1000 published; 9 x 7 1/4; vol. II pp. 206, vol. III pp. 190, vol. IV pp. 126, vol. V pp. 208, vol. VI pp. 196; illustrated wraps; two of the volumes with closed cuts and some loss of paper to tips of spine; most pages unopened; deckled edges; good to very good condition.Georgii Dmitrievich Grebenshchikov (1882 - 1964) was a Russian author, born in the Altai region of Siberia. In 1910 and 1911 he was a member of several ethnographic expeditions to the Uba and Bukhtarna valleys of the Altai and documented the customs and everyday life of the Starovery (Old Believers) community - a sect of recluse, Orthodox sectarians. He fled Russia with his wife in 1920, first to Paris, and later, in 1924, to the US. In 1925 he would cofound with Leo Tolstoy's son Ilia Tolstoy the Churaevka community for Russian emigre writers in Southbury, Connecticut. From 1941 to 1952, he was a professor of Russian literature and history at Florida Southern College.Grebenshchikov began writing his masterpiece, the epic novel Churaevy, in 1916 during his Siberia years, but it was not published until ca 1925 under the Alatas imprint (a publishing house he headed). Seven volumes were released during the author's lifetime, and unfinished manuscripts and notes for volumes 8 and 9 were left after his death. It has been said that Grebenshchikov gave Vasil Churaev, the main character, many of his own traits and characteristics.