Chekhov on Chekhov

New York Review Books (NYRB) is one of the most interesting publishing houses now at work. NYRB does not publish new works, it publishes worthy titles that may have vanished from bookstore shelves and even from libraries. A current list includes J.G. Farrell's "The Siege of Krishnapur," Mavis Gallant's "Paris Stories," Dwight Macdonald's "Masscult and Midcult: Essays Against the American Grain," almost everything Kingsley Amis wrote, Kenneth Fearing's "The Big Clock," and such curiosities as "My Dog Tulip" by J.R. Ackerley and stories Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote for his children (signed "by Papa").

A recent title we turned up is "The Prank: The Best of Young Chekhov." this contains stories Anton Chekhov wrote in his early twenties, while in medical school. And while it's fine to discover anything by Chekhov, the surprise here are illustrations to the stories, drawn by Anton's slightly older brother, Nikolay.

A further surprise is how modern these 1882 drawings are--clever, witty pen-and-ink sketches that could have been drawn for the mid-twentieth century Punch or New Yorker.

If Bill Duthie were still here with his flagship Robson Street store, we would see a row of NYRB titles. Perhaps harder now to find, but worth looking for. To see the full list, check nyrb.com.