Anno Domini MCMXXI. Petersburg: 1921.
24mo. 101, [1], [1 ad] pp. Original wrappers printed in blue and black. Some little soiling and edge-creasing to wrappers, corner crease to first leaf (through inscription), a little narrow marginal dampstain at end.

FIRST EDITION: SIGNED AND INSCRIBED FOR THE AUTHOR'S SECOND HUSBAND, one of 2000 copies printed. The inscription reads, in translation: "To my dear friend Volodya from his Anna." At one location in the text (p 85), the word "Svetlan" is inserted above the poem, probably as a title. Akhmatova's second husband, Vladimir Shileiko, was a respected Assyriologist, who famously attempted to persuade Akhmatova to forego writing poetry—sadly, eventually burning some of her poems. Many of the poems in this collection, Akhmatova's fourth, concern her relationship with Shileiko as well as with her first husband Gumilyov. A thrilling, if somewhat menacing, association copy.