[SECOND NOVEL OF ARMENIAN LITERATURE / BOSTON IMPRINT / BOOK PRODUCTION IN THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA] ԹՈՐՈՍ ԼԵՒՈՆԻ / Toros levoni [i.e., Thoros of Levon]

TSERENTS (HOVSEP SISHMANIAN) (1822-1888).

Berberian Bookstore (H. G. Berberian), Boston, 1917.

Original cloth bdg. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Armenian. 305, [14] p., woodcut portrait of Tserents, and advertisements of the new publications. Ex-library copy of "Sahakyan Nunyan Lisesi" with several stamps, and a stamp of “Librairie Cilicie” on the title page. Fading on cloth, slight foxing on edges. Otherwise, a very good copy.

The very rare first American edition (fourth in the literature) of this Armenian novel, regarded as the second literary work in Armenian literature written in novel form, originally published shortly after "Akabi Hikayesi" Although often labelled a "pulp fiction" (see Kevork Bardakjian), this work in fact ended that notion, giving the genre a new seriousness within Armenian literature. The book was printed by H. G. Berberian, one of the Ottoman Armenians who migrated to Boston shortly after the Armenian Deportation of 1915.

Together with Raffi, Tserents was the founder of the Armenian historical novel. This novel [Thoros of Levon (1877)] was dedicated to the tragic events in the history of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in the 12th century.

According to the publisher's preface, this will be the first of Tserents' works issued for Armenian readers in America, with further titles to follow. The preface also explains that, following the forced migration, they were unable to bring books from their homeland, Turkey and Istanbul, and so were compelled to publish these works where they now lived, in America.

OCLC 1535805462.