Acknowledgements
My grateful thanks go to all my friends for their unstinting help and warm encouragement in preparing the text and critical apparatus, namely to (in no particular order): Professor Neil Cornwell, Hugh Davidson, Joanna Wright, Peter Khoroche, John Moloney, Antony Wood, Dr Mary Ann Barnhart, Dr Virginie Avsejs, Dr Alexey Grigoriev, Leonid Feygin, Sergey and Natalia Toumakov and Daffni Percival.
The Alma editorial team under the able leadership of Christian Müller created a cooperative, industrious atmosphere in which I was able to meet all the deadlines in preparing an edition that will hopefully meet with the readers’ approval.
I am especially grateful to Daffni Percival, poet, teacher and translator for her splendid rendition of Yakov Polonsky’s poem The Bell, (1854).
– Ignat Avsey
Dedication
To my beloved sister Virginie
For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.
– Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market