DS, three pages, 8.5 x 14, September 16, 1931. Publishing agreement between Leon Trotsky and Albert & Charles Boni, Inc., by which he "assigns the sole and exclusive right to publish in book form a work now entitled 'The History of the Russian Revolution.'" The document outlines the advances and royalties due to Trotsky, and clarifies: "It is understood and agreed that this contract settles all differences and claims made by the Author because of the changes in the text of the first volume, made by the Saturday Evening Post, and that, inasmuch as the text of the second volume will be delivered directly to the Saturday Evening Post by Max Eastman on behalf of the Author, the Publisher assumes no liability in regard to its correct reproduction by the Saturday Evening Post. In the event, however, that there shall be any misuse of the text by the Saturday Evening Post, the Publisher agrees that it will join with the Author in any suit for damages which he may bring." Signed at the conclusion in fountain pen by Leon Trotsky, Albert Boni, and Max Eastman as a witness. The document has also been initialed 14 times by Trotsky ("L.T.") and Boni ("A.B."), approving amendments made to the text. In fine condition.
Leon Trotsky wrote prolifically while in exile, completing his lengthy History of the Russian Revolution in 1930. Max Eastman translated the work into English, and—through a deal brokered by Charles Boni—it appeared in the Saturday Evening Post as a series of six articles entitled 'The Russian Revolution' between April 25 and May 30, 1931. In spite of this publishing contract, Boni never published the work in book form.
Max Eastman—Trotsky's friend, translator, and witness to this document—wrote that The History of the Russian Revolution 'will take its place in the record of Trotsky's life…as one of the supreme achievements of this versatile and powerful mind and will.' Isaac Deutscher, Trotsky's biographer, described it as Trotsky's 'crowning work, both in scale and power and as the fullest expression of his ideas on revolution.' A remarkable document pertaining to Leon Trotsky's masterwork, which documented the overthrow of Tzarism in the February and October Revolutions, the attempted counter-revolution, and the triumph of the Soviets.
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