The Queen of Spades and Other Stories

What it is

This is a book of Pushkin's stories in an English translation by Mrs. Sutherland Edwards, published in London in 1892. The contents include The Queen of Spades, The Pistol Shot, The Snowstorm, The Undertaker, The Postmaster and other tales. The copy here is a scanned PDF from the Internet Archive, digitized by the Brittle Books programme of the Ohio State University Libraries. The English words are the translator's, not Pushkin's own, so students should read it as a translation.

Why it matters

The book shows how Pushkin's prose reached English readers in the 1890s. Its contents list and list of illustrations show how publishers presented the stories to a general audience. The translator's biography of Pushkin also shows how English readers were introduced to the poet.

Look closer

• What does the contents list show about which stories the publisher thought were most important?
• How might a translator change Pushkin's voice when writing in English?
• What does the scanned book leave out, such as the original Russian text?