Lot 160: TROTSKY, Leon (1879-1940) – DEWEY, John and others.Not Guilty. Report of the Commission on Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1938.

TROTSKY, Leon (1879-1940) – DEWEY, John and others. Not Guilty. Report of the Commission on Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1938. 8° (217 x 140mm). Original red wrappers printed in black (head of spine chipped); housed in a modern red morocco backed chemise and slipcase. Provenance: Leon Trotsky (presentation inscription to:) – André Breton (1896-1966; his sale, 7-17 April 2003, lot 1495). THE FINEST ASSOCIATION COPY OF THE REPORT CLAIMING LEON TROTSKY ‘NOT GUILTY’, INSCRIBED BY THE REVOLUTIONARY IN MEXICO, IN DIEGO RIVIERA'S HOUSE, TO THE ‘POPE OF SURREALISM’ ANDRÉ BRETON. The most ferocious opponent to Stalin since Lenin's death, Leon Trotsky was living in exile: ejected from power in 1925, expelled from the communist party in 1927, and eventually banished from Russia in 1929. Two years after the publication of this report, he was murdered in Mexico by an agent of Stalin. André Breton and his wife Jacqueline stayed in Mexico in Diego Rivera's house in Coyoacan from 18 April until 1 August 1938. It was there that Trotsky inscribed this copy, on 25 July 1938: ‘A mes amis Jacqueline et André Breton avec les meilleures amitiés Léon Trotsky 25 VII 1938 Coyoacan’. Breton also inserted a photograph of himself, Diego Rivera and Leon Trotsky, taken during the 1938 visit.