Description

Tall 8°: 48 pp. in Bengali and partly in English with 1 interleaved portrait, original binding with illustrated cover (slightly age-toned and stained, slightly bent, leaves waved, otherwise in a good condition, inserted piece of envelope with the author’s address)

An uncommon book includes 21 poems by a Slovenian poet France Prešeren, translated to Bengali, a portrait of Julia Primic, the authors lifelong muse and unfulfilled love, and an appendix with English translations of the poems, as published in 1954 in Oxford under a title Selection of Poems by France Preseren.  

The translator was an author Sisir K Chattopadhyaya, who dedicated the book to professor Janko Lavrin, who “introduced me to Francè Prešeren and his Slovenia”. Lavrin (1887-1986) was a Slovenian editor, translator and professor of Russian ant the Nottingham University. Until the revolution he lived briefly in Sankt-Petersburg, after which he moved to London, which he made his permanent home.  

France Prešeren (1800-1849) is considered to be the greatest Slovenian poet. Born in 1800 in Vrba (Gorenjsko) he composed most of his poems in Ljubljana. He was the author of the first Slovene ballad, the first Slovene epic, and of today’s Slovenian national anthem. The poetry of France Prešeren gained recognition well after his death.

We could find 7 examples in Slovenian libraries and one abroad (SOAS, London). 
 
References: OCLC 442933703 and 417475958.