George Orwell and the Ukranian language edition of Animal Farm which includes an introduction from the author

A NEAR-PERFECT Ukrainian language edition of George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm is up for sale with the proceeds going to a charity supporting refugees from the Russian invasion.

Antiquarian book dealers Jarndyce Books, in Bloomsbury, have been given a unique tome from 1947 by an anonymous collector. They have requested the firm sell the translation – worth around £2,000 – and hand the proceeds to Families 4 Peace.

The book is particularly interesting for Orwell scholars because it contains the only known introduction by the author.

In this text, Orwell explains how he was standing at the gate of his village store in Suffolk, when he saw a small boy whipping a giant cart horse along a country lane.

“It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat,” he wrote.

The sight inspired his politically charged classic. The translation came about when a copy of the novel reached Ukrainian writer Ihor Ševčenko.

Ševčenko, 24, was working for a newspaper while exiled in Munich, and was a regular reader of Orwell’s As I Please column in the political magazine Tribune.

He wrote to Orwell and explained he had been reading Animal Farm aloud.

“Soviet refugees were my listeners,” he said. “The effect was striking. They approved of almost all of your interpretations.”

He asked Orwell for permission to publish a translation. The Ukrainian version – called Kolhosp Tvaryn – had a print run of around 5,000, but only 2,000 copies were handed out.

Paul Lee, from Jarndyce Books, said: “A truck from Munich was stopped and searched by American soldiers, and a shipment of an estimated 3,000 copies was seized as propaganda. They were handed over to Soviet forces, who promptly destroyed them.”

Orwell explained to his new Ukrainian readers how he had fought in the Spanish Civil War and had seen first hand the political oppression by Stalinist Communists.

“Manhunts in Spain went on at the same time as the great purges in the USSR,” he wrote.

His Spanish experience shaped both Animal Farm and 1984.

“My wife and I both saw innocent people being thrown into prison merely because they were suspected of unorthodoxy,” he added. “On my return from Spain I thought of exposing the Soviet myth in a story that could be easily understood and which could be easily translated into other languages,” he added.

Mr Lee added: “It has a striking cover and is in excellent condition. The owner is a book collector we know and he wanted to make a generous gift.”