Fyodor Dostoevsky — The First American Editions (1912–1915)
Macmillan / Heinemann Transatlantic Series — Four Volumes
The Brothers Karamazov • The Idiot • The Possessed • The House of the Dead
Between 1912 and 1920, The Macmillan Company of New York issued serially some twelve volumes of the first authoritative American editions of Dostoevsky’s major novels—an ambitious transatlantic partnership in which William Heinemann oversaw British printing at the Ballantyne Press, while Macmillan handled U.S. distribution.
Translated by Constance Garnett, whose work became the gold standard for Russian literature in English, these volumes mark the moment Dostoevsky’s masterpieces entered American literary culture.
Uniformly bound in publisher’s gray cloth with gilt‑stamped spines and top‑gilt page edges, the set includes:
1. The Brothers Karamazov (1912) 838 pp. Good+. Wear to edges and spine tips; front board slightly bowed with cloth to front lifting and wrinkling. Interior clean. The inaugural volume of the series, using sheets from the first London printing.
2. The Idiot (1913) 620pp Very Good. Light corner wear, small rear‑board stain, spine sunned. Clean interior. Bookseller original $1.50 price in pencil to rear pastedown. The second major installment in the American market.
3. The Possessed (1914) 637pp. Very Good. Light rubbing, sunned spine, bookseller’s $1.50 pencil price on endpapers. A strong example of this politically charged masterpiece.
4. The House of the Dead (1915) 284pp. Very Good or Better. Minor bumping, darkened spine, small stain to prelim edges. Clean interior. A crisp copy of Dostoevsky’s Siberian prison memoir.
Significance of the Set
The first American editions of four major Dostoevsky novels
A rare transatlantic production history: printed in London, sold in New York
Garnett’s translations that shaped English‑language Dostoevsky for half a century
Increasingly scarce to find as a uniform, cohesive group
A cornerstone offering for collectors of Russian literature, early modern publishing, or anyone seeking a visually unified and historically important Dostoevsky set.