Gagarin's dedication copy to Professor Jørgen Jørgensen

GAGARIN, Yuri.

Doroga w kosmos (Road to Space).

Moscow: Pravda Publishing House, 1961.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Item #002594

8vo (200 x 126 mm). 222 [2] pp. Illustrated with frontispiece and 60 b&w photographs. Publisher's grey cloth and original dust jacket (little wear to extremities and short tear to fold at top spine of dust jacket). Provenance: Prof. Jørgen Jørgensen (inscription in Cyrillic by Gagarin on first flyleaf "To president of the Danish-Soviet Unian society Professor Jörgensen, with esteem, Gagarin"). A fine copy in very good dust jacket.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (printed July 1, 1961 according to imprint) of Gagarin's autobiography. There are two issues of this book known: the first (our issue) dated July 1, 1961 in the imprint and another (without exact date, but probably later) with 238 pages bound in blue cloth and with a different dust wrapper, with the latter one more common on the market. With an envelope containing: A card with Gagarin's signature, a translation of the dedication written on the fly leaf in Cyrillic letters, a note in Professor Jørgen Jørgensen's hand thanking Gagarin: "Kære og ærede hr. kosmonaut Juiry Gagarin. Modtag de hjerteligste hilsener og bedste ønsker for det nye år for Dem, Deres familie og Deres store folk fra Deres Ærbødigst hengivne Krista og Jørgen Jørgensen. PS. Vi takker Dem hjerteligst for den elskværdige tilsendelse af Deres interessante bog. Vi er meget glade for den og håber, at de hermed følgende billeder hos Dem vil vække behagelige erindringer om Deres besøg her i Danmark" (Dear and honorable Mr. Cosmonaut Juiry Gagarin. Please accept the heartfelt greetings and best wishes for the new year for you, your family and your great people from your respectfully devotees Krista and Jørgen Jørgensen. PS. We cordially thank you for the gracious forwarding of your interesting book. We are very pleased with it and hope that the relevant following pictures with you will evoke pleasant memories of your visit here in Denmark") and 2 newspaper clips. Berlingske Tidende d. 29.3.1968 og d. 30.03.1968 (Gagarins death). Gagarin visited Denmark Sept. 6-9, 1962 during his tour of Europe after his landmark orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961. >br>Jørgen Jørgensen's (1884-1969) was a Danish philosopher and professor at the University of Copenhagen. He also was president of the National Association for Promoting Synergies between Denmark and the Soviet Union in 1950. His Communist affiliation created him a lot of criticism and opposition in his philosophical career.

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