Doctor Zhivago [Translation of title]

France: Societe d'Edition et d'Impression Mondiale, 1959. Presumed first edition/first printing thus. Wraps. Good. Format is approximately. 3.75 by 6.675 inches. 634, [6] p. Two volumes in one. Book is in Russian. No dust jacket. Cover has some wear and soiling. Some edge soiling. As the United States government was adamant that US involvement in the distribution of the novel not be seen, the CIA turned to an unlikely partner to help distribute the books in Brussels: the Vatican. This hardback had blue linen covers. The CIA, recognized when it had a hit on its hands. Following the successful distribution of the first thousand Russian-language copies of Doctor Zhivago, the agency decided to fund a second print run, including 7, 000 copies for individuals who would take them into the Soviet Union and leave them for others to discover, and 2, 000 copies that would be distributed at the Vienna Youth Festival later that year. The CIA funded the publication of a miniature, lightweight paperback edition of Doctor Zhivago that could be easily mailed or concealed. Distribution of the miniature version began in April 1959. The Agency stamped each of these copies as coming from the Societe d'Edition et d Impression Mondiale, a nonexistent French publisher. Undoubtedly, many of these volumes were confiscated and subsequently destroyed by Soviet and Eastern European communist authorities.