Lot #50: Rare 1966 Latvian Diaspora Fiction: Atrisis Mezgls by Emīls Skujenieks (Tilta Apgāds)

Rare hardcover edition of Atrisis Mezgls (The Untied Knot), a collection of short stories and novellas by the prominent Latvian writer Emīls Skujenieks. Published in 1966, this book is an exceptional piece of Cold War-era Baltic diaspora literature, printed in the United States for the displaced Latvian community. • Title: Atrisis Mezgls: Noveles un Stāsti (The Untied Knot: Novellas and Stories) • Author: Emīls Skujenieks (1903–1965) • Publisher: Tilta Apgāds (Bridge Publishing), Minneapolis, USA • Year of Publication: 1966 (Posthumous edition) • Language: Latvian • Format: Hardcover • The Publisher (Tilta Apgāds): Based in Minneapolis, Tilta Apgāds was one of the most vital post-WWII Latvian exile publishing houses. Following the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states, intellectual life for free Baltic citizens shifted abroad. Houses like Tilta allowed exiled writers to print their works uncensored by Soviet authorities, making their catalog highly historical. • The Author (Emīls Skujenieks): Skujenieks was a highly talented Latvian prose writer, poet, and translator. He passed away in 1965, and this 1966 book compiles his final short stories and novellas, some of which had previously only existed in manuscript form. • Historical Context of the Latvian Language: Books published by the Western diaspora in the mid-1960s were printed in limited quantities primarily for small, tight-knit immigrant communities in North America and Europe. Because many copies stayed within families or local diaspora libraries, finding clean copies on the open market today is quite difficult. Pickup category timeslot {A}