Սասունցի Դաւիթ, Հայկական ժողովրդական եպոս, Երեվան 1939 [DAVI - Lot 77

Սասունցի Դաւիթ, Հայկական ժողովրդական եպոս, Երեվան 1939 [DAVID DE SASSOUN. Epopée populaire arménienne, Erevan 1939] In-4 (26.5 x 18.5 cm), text in Armenian dialect, Faux-tittre in Russian, xxxi pp. [1] bl. ff., 382-[6] pp., 16 plates laminated on strong paper, 7 in color. Publisher's bronze, beige and gilt binding, decorated with a bust of David of Sassoun and his horse in a circular medallion. (Binding worn at corners and spine, pp. 119-123 unbound). First edition of the synthesized standard text, published for the millennium of the epic of David of Sassoun, the 10th-century liberator of Arab-occupied Armenia. For this occasion, editors Manouk Abeghyan, Gevorg Abov and Aram Ghanalanyan have brought together in this text all the different versions and variants of the epic, which was only known orally until the end of the 19th century, and only by a small group of initiate-transmitters. The preface is written by Iosep Orbeli, an Armenian from Georgia and administrator of the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad.