Between the Covers

Hardcover. Limited edition (one of 280 copies). Mimeographed. Octavo. pp. [1-4], i-iv [v-vi], 1-104. Illustrated with a portrait of Bogdan and four other full-page illustrations. Bound in original army linen over boards with mimeographed illustration mounted on the front cover. Small contemporary name in ink on front free endpaper, slight staining and rubbing to the boards, small marginal tears to endpapers, very good.

A very scarce book of poetry by the Ukrainian poet Bogdan Bora (1920-97), written and published at a prison camp in Rimini, Italy, about one year after World War II. Bora had been captured by British forces and sent to the prison camp in Rimini, where he spent the following two years, and published three books of poetry including this collection, the title of which translated as “On the Road.” Bora’s poems, written in Ukrainian, are moving works, evocative of the turbulent era. The cover design and a full-page portrait of Bogdan Bora were made by fellow inmate Volodimir Kaplun. In 1947, Bora was moved to Britain, where he was given his freedom, and lived out the rest of his days. Very scarce. *OCLC* locates only six copies in institutional holdings worldwide.

Item #423496