Соня в царстве дива - Sonia v tsarstve diva. The First Russian Translation of Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland

The first Russian translation of& 34;Alice& 39;s Adventures in Wonderland& 34; appeared in Moscow in 1879, fourteen years after the publication of original. It bore the title& 34;Sonja in a Kingdom of Wonder& 34; and was printed by Mamontov& 39;s Press. The text was printed in old Russian orthography (that is, using the old letters і and ? , and ъ at the ends of words, etc.) which was supplanted by the spelling reform of 1918. No name of the author, illustrator, or translator appeared on the title page. There is strong new evidence that the translator was Ekaterina Boratynskaya (nee Timiryazeva), who later became an accomplished translator of children s literature from English, a friend of Lev Tolstoy, and the first teacher of Boris Pasternak. According to Nina Demurova, There are now many Russian trans lations of Alice, but Sonia is the first, and the only one done within Carroll s lifetime, pre sum ably with his knowl edge, and there by must be accorded a place of honour in the canon. This is the first printing of Sonia in modern Russian orthography, with an extensive com mentary in English.