MOSCOW, April 17 A unique copy of Nikolai Gogol's «Inspector General» of 1836 was put up for auction, according to the website of the Literary Fund.
The starting price of the lot is 7.5 million rubles.
It belonged to the actor Alexander Nilsky. And he has «a symbolic connection with the author of the comedy himself thanks to the close communication of the book's owner with the outstanding Russian actor I. I. Sosnitsky,» the publication specifies.
The latter played the Governor in a performance on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in 1836.
Notable copy and handwritten edits. They reproduce additions made by Gogol to the second edition of The Government Inspector in 1942.
The lot is accompanied by an explanatory note in German by Artur Knupffer. It says: «The literary critic Gershenzon suggested that some of the corrections in this copy were made by Gogol's hand.»
It was previously reported that the first posthumous edition of Lermontov's poems was sold at auction.