The Collected Stories by Nikolai Gogol. Superb Folio Society Edition

I've just picked up a gorgeous edition of Russian author Nikolai Gogol's The Collected Stories, published by the Folio Society and illustrated by Peter Stuart. I'm always impressed with Folio Society publications, but with this one they seem to have out done themselves. 

My only complaint is that they use the old Constance Garnet translation. A good article on her various flaws as a translater can be found at the New Yorker. It would have been marvelous if the Folio Society had comissioned a new translation from that genius team: Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, who have completed changed our notion of Russian writers like Tolstoy, Dostoevesky and Bulgakov. 

In any event, the Garnet translation is certainly readable, so it's not a deal breaker. Where the Folio Society have scored is in choosing Peter Stuart to illustrate the volume. Amazing work by a remarkable artist. Here are some examples of his illustrations from Gogol's The Collected Stories: 

Peter has also illustrated several other books for the Folio Society, most notably Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Robertson Davie's The Deptford Trilogy. For more of this brilliant animator's work, try is website peterstuart.com. 

You can purchase Gogol's Collected Stories via the Folio Society website or any good indie bookseller. I recommend Tattered Cover in Denver, CO. or Powell's Books in Portland, Or. Of course, if you have a great indie store near you, go there!