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STEPNIAK, [Sergius]. Nihilism as it is.

London. T. Fisher Unwin, [1894?] First edition in English.
8vo. xi, [1], 122pp, [2]. Original publisher's red cloth, stamped and lettered in black. Rubbed, spine dulled. Endpapers browned.
The translated pamphlets of Russian Anarchist Sergey Mikhaylovich Stepnyak-Kravchinsky (1851-1895) known in English revolutionary circles of the nineteenth century as Sergius Stepniak. Stepniak, who believed acts of political terrorism could influence Tsar Alexander II to introduce democratic reforms, would assassinate General Nikolai Mezentsov, the chief of Russia's Gendarme corps and the head of the country's secret police, with a dagger in the streets of St. Petersburg in 1878. This first English edition is translated by Ethel Voynich (1864-1960), whose novel, The Gadfly (1897), became wildly popular in the Soviet Union.
£ 50.00 Antiquates Ref: 32435