In January 1897, the first collection Ivan Bunin’s short stories “To the Edge of the World and Other Stories” was published by the St. Petersburg publishing house of Olga Popova. The book includes “To the Edge of the World”, “At the Dacha”, “Dreamer”, “News from Motherland”, “Tanka”, “On the Other Side”, “Kastryuk”, “Tarantella”, “On the Donets”.

The literary world received these works quite warmly. Critics appreciated Bunin’s special style of writing, in which his poetic qualities were combined with meticulously worked out imagery and vivid observations. However, the success was connected not only with the artistic skill of the young author. His first prose collection was also distinguished by his depiction of social problems, his deep knowledge of folk life.

In the story ‘To the Edge of the World’, after which the book was titled, Bunin wrote about the resettlement of peasants to the Far East. The plot revolved around the central scene — the Ukrainians saying goodbye to their native land and loved ones. Many of them decided to go to the distant Ussuri Region in the hope that they would be given a large plot of fertile land there and finally overcome poverty.

Bunin with a few touches captured the full depth of the feelings of those who were leaving and those who were staying. He poignantly described how they returned home after saying goodbyes:

The book displayed in the museum is a sample copy — a copy of the book which is first printed before ordering a large print run, in order to eliminate errors, as well as to check whether all the printing settings are selected correctly.

This copy was first sent to the author, and he gifted it to Voronezh writer Ertel with a dedicatory inscription: ‘To the highly respected Alexander Ivanovich Ertel from I. Bunin St. Petersburg. 24. XII. 96’. Bunin highly appreciated Ertel’s books for his talented depiction of folk life.