[DIASPORA IMPRINT / ÉMIGRÉ ARMENIAN POETRY / ARMENIANS IN THE US Գիւղն իմ հեռհqւոր / Giwghn im herhqwor [i.e., My distant village]

SITAL, KARAPET SAHINYAN (1891-1972).

Hratarakutiwn Amerhôki, Philadelphia, 1936.

Original illustrated wrappers. Roy. 8vo. (23 x 15 cm). In Armenian. 74 p. Spotting to the front cover, foxing on the rear cover, ownership inscription on title page in Armenian in 1945, ex-libris of Haig Hovsepyan on the rear pastedown, co-editor of the literary newspaper Horizon with Sital in 1923-1924. Otherwise, a bright and very good copy.

The first edition of a poetry collection by Sital, a poet and editor from the prominent Sahinyan family, which also included the first Armenian female photographer, Mariam Sahinyan. Written in the United States in the aftermath of the Armenian massacres of 1915, the work expresses his metaphorical longing for Soviet Armenia and stands as a representative example of Armenian émigré literature of the mid-1930s. It was published by Hratarakutiwn Amerhôki, an Armenian-language publishing house established by Sitar in the United States that served the Armenian diaspora in the early twentieth century. Before the events of 1915, the Shahinyan family had relocated to Van in 1895-1896.

After being orphaned, Sital found refuge in an American orphanage. In 1907, he graduated from the Van American High School, and in 1910 from the Tabriz American College. Upon returning to Van, he devoted himself to teaching. In 1911, together with H. Avagyan and S. Jamkochyan, he founded and edited the periodical Van-Tosp. In 1914, in order to evade conscription into the Ottoman army, he left for the United States and settled in Philadelphia, where he attended courses in literature and fine arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

At his own printing house, which operated for nearly forty years, Sital published the literary, scholarly, and social weekly Horizon in 1923-1924 (edited jointly with P. Minasyan and H. Hovsepyan). After the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia, he aligned himself with the Armenian Workers’ Party active in the United States, which later became part of the Communist Party of the USA as its Armenian section. Sital was a member of the "Technical Aid to Soviet Armenia", the "Committee for the Aid of Armenia" (HOK), and other progressive organizations.

In the final years of his life, he served as honorary president of the Armenian Progressive Union of America. He visited Soviet Armenia several times, where the 40th, 50th, and 60th anniversaries of his literary and social activity were officially commemorated.

As of March 2026, OCLC locates seven copies in the North American libraries: Harvard University, NAASR Mardigian Library, UC Southern Systemwide Facility, Tisch Library, Cleveland Public Library, University of Michigan, and Hathi Trust Digital Library. (23568351 & 320175924).