Vasyl Symonenko's only lifetime book with author's signature sold at Violity for 30 thousand hryvnias

The first day of the last month of winter was marked by an interesting deal in the second-hand book section. Collectors competed for a unique artifact - a book by the sixties poet Vasyl Symonenko signed by the author.

Vasyl Symonenko devoted almost 10 of his 29 years of life to literary work. In 1965, he was posthumously nominated for the Shevchenko Prize, but it was awarded to the poet only in independent Ukraine, in 1995.

"The Silence and the Thunder" was published by the Kyiv State Literary Publishing House in 1962. Inspired by the success of his first collection, Symonenko carefully selected poems for his second, titled Earth's Attraction, and even managed to proofread the layout, but he never saw it during his lifetime. The young poet died on December 14, 1963. The book was published in 1964. 

The copy of Silence and Thunder on display at Violity bears a dedication inscription:

In addition, the book contains a photo portrait of the writer with a signature on the back:

Here is what the seller himself wrote about the lot: 

"The only lifetime edition of the author's edition of only 3500 copies. With V. Symonenko's own autograph (the number of signed books is unknown, but there were none in the history of auctions). Therefore, the item is truly unique and inimitable in itself. There are no known analogs."

Users also confirm the uniqueness of the item in their comments.

"As far as I understand, the photo was signed by Viktor Shpak, the author of a number of articles memorializing his comrade. The dedication is no less interesting, translated from Latin: "Greetings, ..., those doomed to death greet you," and there is a suspicion to whom it was addressed. A truly unique piece," writes a collector under the nickname Client532466. 

In 2014, Viktor Shpak published a note in the Uriadovyi Kurier newspaper on the 80th anniversary of the poet's birth. He wrote: 

"It is likely that Vasyl Symonenko became a poet precisely because of the inability to express everything that had been boiling in his soul on the pages of the ideologized press. However, his best poems were also not for publication. This was eloquently demonstrated by his first and only lifetime collection, The Silence and the Thunder, from which everything that did not fit into the Procrustean bed of Soviet ideology was mercilessly purged or changed beyond recognition."

The bidding for the lot began on January 24 and ended on February 1. The winning 131st bid brought the seller 30,301 hryvnias.